You Should Have While You Could Have, But You Didn't So I Did
by AbBoe
Summary: AU - Lauren and Bo meet at a dinner with Lauren's old med school buddies. If you thought the show's love triangle was messy, then be prepared to meet messier. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

The night was cold and dark; clouds hung low in the sky, obscuring the normally bright winter moon. It was going to snow tonight and from what she had heard on the weather report from this morning, quite a lot at that. She briefly chastised herself for not having worn her boots today since there would likely be fresh snow on the ground on her walk home later tonight. Though her colleagues always complained this time of year about how it was dark coming to work and dark going home and how cold and drab these winter months were, to Lauren, winter was always her favorite time of year. Just like now, she loved the sound her shoes made walking over the layers of snow on the ground. That soft crunching noise underfoot coupled with the white puffs of her warm breath leaving her mouth as she moved briskly down the sidewalk made her feel as equally tranquil as it did alive. Shoving her hands deeper into her coat pockets, she ducked her head a bit lower into the collar of her jacket and picked up her pace. She may love winter, but it was still damn cold out and she certainly didn't want to linger out in it any longer than necessary. After a remarkably rough week in the lab, tonight's dinner with her two most favorite people was like the shiny, awesome toy at the bottom of a particularly awful tasting box of cereal. And she was more than willing to walk the 10 blocks on this chilly, moon-less night for some good food, great conversation and much-needed general frivolity.

Lauren had made it a point to arrive a bit early to the restaurant this evening. She had always found it challenging to relax and enjoy an evening out after having come off of a stressful day at work. It was worse for Lauren back when she was still in medical school, and even more-so during her residency. The rigors of academia and the burden of being responsible for her patients' health and well-being often made her a very serious and somewhat boring after-hours companion. Ironically, medical school was where it all began for Lauren, Emma and Thomas. The dynamic threesome had forged a hard and fast friendship during their first year in medical school. They spent many nights studying together or, more accurately, Lauren and Emma would do most of the studying and Thomas would keep their beer mugs topped off. Thomas was the absurdly smart one in the group. They were all smarter than your average bear, to be sure, but Lauren and Emma were more studious and didn't take their natural intelligence for granted. Thomas somehow absorbed all of his necessary knowledge by association, or close proximity to the person imparting said knowledge. Even if the late-night study sessions were a bit one-sided, they all managed to make it through with flying colors and a friendship that would last a lifetime.

As Lauren's thoughts drifted to old memories of their school days together, she hardly even noticed that she had arrived at the restaurant. But the surprise was a welcomed one as she slipped in the door, instantly taken in by the warm surroundings. With an extra fifteen minutes to spare before she expected her friends to arrive, Lauren made her way over to the bar to secure a glass of mulled wine before finding a place in front of the restaurant's massive wood-burning fireplace. Years ago, when the three of them had first started coming here, they would forgo taking their meals at an actual table and would instead eat in the lounge, all three of them squeezing into the leather loveseat in front of the fireplace. As the years passed, their ritual gatherings had evolved to include a real table, bottles of expensive wine rather than cheap pitchers of beer, and had expanded from just the three of them to include each other's significant-other-of-the-day/week/month.

The lounge was rather quiet today, though the main restaurant was in its usual state of busy-ness. But Lauren was thankful for the solitude and took the opportunity to snuggle further into the leather sofa, losing herself in her earlier train of thought while sipping slowly on her warm wine. After a few minutes, she felt a presence behind her. Assuming it was one of her friends, she extended her hand backward over the top of the sofa trying to make contact with whomever was behind her. After a moment, she felt a warm, soft hand slide across her own, which she took to be Emma's. She squeezed the proffered hand gently and uttered a quiet "Hello." When an unfamiliar voice answered back, Lauren practically flung her wine across the room in her haste to get her hand and body off the couch and away from this unexpected stranger. Amidst the stumbling, fumbling, and mumbled apologies, Lauren managed to find her manners and, after setting her wine safely down on the side table, extended her hand once again, albeit a bit more formally, to the woman now standing in front of her. The startled woman slowly reached out and grasped Lauren's hand in her own, giving a short but firm shake, then quickly returning her hands to her sides where she spent the next few moments smoothing the fabric of her skirt. The stranger began to speak again, apologizing repeatedly for having startled her. After a few awkward moments, Lauren couldn't take it anymore and cut her off with an abrupt "I'm Lauren."

Silence. Lauren stood completely still, looking with practiced confidence at the woman in front of her. The woman let out a breath as a warm smile appeared.

"I'm Bo. Sorry again for... well..."

"Don't even worry about it. Personally, I love holding hands with strange women," Lauren quipped, trying to lighten the moment. Lauren rubbed her hands across her upper thighs in a nervous gesture. Looking around the room for a second, it occurred to her that it was a bit odd that this woman had come to stand directly behind her when she was clearly the only other person occupying the lounge at the moment.

But before she even had a chance to voice the thought, Bo started in, "When I asked the hostess about the reservation that Thomas had made for this evening, she informed me that someone from our party had already arrived and was waiting in the lounge." Bo glanced around the room and then back at Lauren. "Thankfully you were the only person here when I walked in, so I assumed - hopefully correctly - that you were one of Thomas's friends. Lauren, you said?"

"Lauren, yes. Well it is a pleasure to meet you, Bo." Shifting back toward the couch, Lauren gestured toward it, "Please sit. I can promise you it's the best seat in the house," she spoke lightly, trying to set Bo at ease after the awkward first impression they both made. After settling themselves on opposite ends of the couch, Lauren retrieved her wine from the end table and took a fortifying sip of the dark red liquid. Glancing over the top of her glass in Bo's direction, she took a moment to really look at the person now occupying one of her favorite spots in the city. Bo was a strikingly beautiful woman. Her long brown hair flowed down her back, gently curling at the ends. Her face glowed softly by the light of the fire. She had the remains of her earlier smile still tugging at the corners of her mouth, showing off the dimple in her right cheek. But it was her deep brown eyes that intrigued Lauren the most. There was an intensity in her far-off gaze that belied her easy smile and relaxed pose.

The more she studied Bo's figure, the more she noticed just how different they were physically. Though they were both a similar height, where Bo appeared petite with gentle curves and impossibly smooth skin that softened the muscle lurking beneath, Lauren was lanky, with toned arms and legs and sporting an almost boyish physique. Though both were the epitome of femininity, Bo had a certain - shall we say - sex appeal that was apparent the second Lauren laid eyes on her. She wore a very flattering blue silk blouse and a figure-hugging navy pinstriped skirt, which could have been considered office-appropriate, professional attire, but there was something about the way Bo wore them - the way she stood and moved and showed off just the right amount of skin here, but not too much there. She was absolutely stunning. This was not to say that Lauren was a slouch, by any means. Also considered an incredibly beautiful woman, Lauren wore her shiny blond locks up tonight in a somewhat messy bun with some stray golden curls softening her face. She could pull off just about any outfit with her long, lean body, so tonight she had worn her favorite dress pants that she thought made her look taller and finally pulled out the new leather jacket she had bought more than a month ago to wear over a classic white oxford dress shirt. Lauren's look was classy and immaculate. Bo's was classy, yes, but with an added "wow" mixed in. And that part was all Bo. Taking another slow sip, Lauren turned her gaze away from Bo's profile to avoid yet another embarrassing moment if she were to be caught staring at her new companion.

Lauren's brow creased ever so slightly as she contemplated how Bo and Thomas were connected. Was Bo Thomas's girlfriend? If so, it would be the first she had heard of it, and Thomas was not one to keep his romantic life a secret from his two best friends. So perhaps Bo was merely a friend or close colleague that he wanted to bring into the fold. A twinge of jealously swept through Lauren unbidden. She had always felt a bit territorial where Thomas was concerned. Granted, they had only dated briefly during their second year of residency at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, and it wasn't a very impressive run at that. It started with an unexpected kiss while parting ways in the hospital parking structure, and ended with a few nights of rather un-noteworthy sex. No matter how amazing they were at being friends, they never fit together physically. But that didn't stop Lauren from having opinions about every single girl in Thomas's life from that point on. And Bo... well... Bo was a mystery for the moment. And Lauren, though she loved a good mystery, didn't like feeling out of the loop.

Taking a steadying breath, Lauren positioned her body on the end of the couch such that she was now fully facing the opposite end where her newest acquaintance sat gazing quietly into the fire. Holding her glass in both hands and gently resting it on her lap, Lauren cleared her throat, successfully grabbing Bo's attention. "So," Lauren started in, "I feel a bit bad that I didn't even know Thomas had a guest joining us tonight. But welcome," she said accompanied by what she hoped was an inviting smile. She was rewarded with a large grin and the return of Bo's dimple that Lauren was finding herself quite fond of.

"Thanks. I'm sorry Thomas didn't mention I'd be tagging along, but I was so thrilled when he invited me. Your standing dinner dates have quite a reputation." Bo's last statement caused Lauren to raise her eyebrows in surprise and, to be honest, delight. Glancing down for a moment, Bo continued in a quieter tone, "I had hoped he would invite me along eventually. We've known each other for a while now and I felt like this was one thing he was keeping private. I would never _make_ him bring me, but I'd hoped he would want to eventually. You're one of his best friends and he tells such wonderful stories about you... but anyway, it's great to finally meet you."

"Bo, I don't mean to sound rude, but how exactly do you and Thomas..." Lauren's words trailed off as they were interrupted by the simultaneous arrival of her two missing friends. Emma, a tall farm girl from central Wisconsin, was the loudest of the three and had the best sense of humor, interrupting Bo and Lauren's conversation with a hearty "Giiiiirl!" She had a pretty casual sense of style, opting for dark jeans and a cotton shirt whenever she could get away with it, like tonight. She also had a tendency to wear her hair up and out of her face at all times. In fact, there were probably only a handful of times in Lauren's memory where she remembers Emma wearing her hair down. But Emma has always hated her straight, light brown hair, arguing that no matter how much effort she put in to it, it never did her justice to wear it down and it just served to make her self-conscious and uncomfortably warm. To her credit, her perpetually casual look really suited her laid-back, easy-going nature. Lauren loved how low-maintenance she was and how easily conversation flowed between them.

Thomas, on the other hand, was the most dramatic and high-maintenance of the three of them, and fittingly an impeccable dresser. In the beginning when they were first getting to know one another, Emma and Lauren often joked that Thomas was secretly gay, which would really have gone a long way in explaining things. But that rumor was quickly dispelled, and it was actually Emma who eventually came out to the two of them a few years later when she had first met her now-partner, Angie. They all had a good laugh over that little bit of irony, and welcomed Angie into the fray with open arms. Angie wasn't usually able to come to their almost-weekly gatherings, but they saw plenty of her at other times throughout the year.

After a quick bear hug and kiss to the cheek from Emma, Lauren turned, expecting to get the same attention from Thomas but instead was greeted with the sight of her friend lovingly kissing the woman Lauren had met only moments ago. Well, Lauren thought, that certainly answered _that _question. Lauren continued to study their interaction somewhat skeptically, but broke out into a large smile when Thomas parted from Bo and turned his attention to Lauren. "Tom", Lauren said while enveloping his long-time friend in a warm embrace. Thomas offered Lauren a warm smile that made his blue eyes sparkle, and held Lauren at arm's length for a moment just gazing at her. Lauren's smile faded just a bit as she took in his odd behavior. "Tom, is everything all right?", she asked conspiratorially, tilting her head toward him and giving him 'the look', which was basically a weird facial expression they had all adopted and pulled out whenever someone was acting oddly or was trying to hide something from the group.

Thomas released Lauren's upper arms with a soft pat and shoved his hands into his pants pockets, shifting his gaze back and forth between Bo and Lauren. "You know," Thomas started, "I think we should go to our table. The hostess has one ready for us in the back tonight" he continued while ushering the three women out of the lounge and up the short flight of stairs to the main dining area.

Lauren hated feeling out of the loop. For the love of god, what was going on tonight? First she inappropriately touched a complete stranger, took an utter leave of her senses and was not only staring at said woman, but rudely attempted to ask her what she was doing here tonight. And to top it all off, Thomas was being awkward and cryptic, two things he _never _was. _Someone _had some explaining to do. After the four of them had been seated and had all ordered a round of drinks, Lauren carefully folded her menu, set it down and, resting her clasped hands on the table in front of her, steeled herself for whatever news Thomas had for them tonight. She had to wait a remarkably long time, as everyone seemed unusually engrossed in tonight's dinner menu. She did notice, however, that Emma kept glancing over the top of her menu at Lauren, then at Thomas, then at Lauren again. _What was with everyone tonight_, Lauren wondered? Was there something wrong with her makeup? Did she have something in her teeth from her lunch earlier today? _What_?!

And just when she couldn't take the suspense any longer, Bo cleared her throat. "I think you were asking me something while we were waiting in the lounge, just before these two jokers showed up," she said with a smirk.

"Right, yes, well. I was going to ask you how it is that you know Mr. T here, but it seems a bit obvious now that you two are a couple. Congratulations to you both," she said with a tight smile, her gaze never wavering from Thomas's. Bo shifted uncomfortably in her seat, not quite understanding what was going on, while Lauren gave Tom a quick kick to the shin under the table.

"Ouch! Jesus, Lauren! What the fuck was that for?!" Thomas hissed, slouching forward slightly.

"I'm sorry," Lauren started, turning toward Bo again. "I'm not always... this..." she gestured vaguely "... whatever. I'm sorry. Usually we know about each other's significant others _before_ they show up at dinner, so I was caught by surprise. I meant no offense, Bo." And with that said, she picked up her menu and resumed her ruse of trying to decide what to order. She could hear the three of them talking in the background. Bo was talking about some "clients" that have been coming to her practice lately, from which Lauren assumed she was a therapist or psychiatrist. They all laughed every now and again at something Bo said, and it made Lauren all the more confused by how strongly she was reacting to this new person in Tom's life. Bo seemed like a delightful person and was clearly intelligent, and had a lovely sense of humor. Emma acted like they had been friends forever, which seemed a bit weird to Lauren and made her wonder if perhaps this wasn't the first time the two had met. But no matter how rational she tried to be about the situation, she just kept coming back to this weird feeling of jealousy and hurt. It was so ridiculous! Thomas had been with plenty of women over the years, and there were even one or two relationships in that time that seemed pretty serious. But Bo... she couldn't put her finger on it. She was worried about something she couldn't even put words to. It was all so irrational and silly. And with that last thought, Lauren straightened in her chair and put her menu back down, making an effort to rejoin the light conversation happening right in front of her. Emma was the first to notice her reappearance, and jumped right in, asking how things were going with her research grant proposal.

Though it was a grueling, painstaking process, Lauren loved research more than she ever loved clinical practice. She had found a home in the field of genetics and, after completing her fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology last year, took a position in the medical school's research lab. Lauren recounted a couple of run-ins she had with one of her colleagues who thought that all of the great ideas coming out of the lab were his, and his alone. But one thing about Lauren that had always impressed her friends was how she always stood up for herself, and others, when it was important. So Lauren had pushed a few of her colleague, Henry's, buttons which had some repercussion that became the cause of her particularly bad day. But after another glass of warm mulled wine, she was starting to care less and less about stupid ol' Henry and whatever stick he currently had shoved up his ass.

As the evening wore on and the food, wine, and conversation flowed more freely, Lauren noticed herself warming up to Bo. She could see how gentle she was when she'd reach out to squeeze Tom's hand after he said something funny, or the way her eyes would shine and her dimple would come out in full force when he looked over at her. The soft touches and warm looks were all Lauren needed to realize they had something special between them, and what kind of friend would she be if she didn't let down that weird icy exterior she had been sporting earlier in the evening and just let everyone enjoy themselves.

At one point in the evening, everyone decided to try to one-up each other by telling an embarrassing story about Tom - or more specifically, a story in which Tom made a complete idiot out of himself. Emma left them laughing hysterically over the time that Tom had given his first injection on a kid and after withdrawing the needle, he went to put a Band-Aid on the little guy and couldn't see the hole where the needle had been and ended up putting the Band-Aid on over a freckle. The boy's parents didn't want to embarrass the good doctor, but Emma had heard them whispering to one another as they left the room and the little boy asking if his freckle had a boo-boo. Even Bo had some wonderful stories that, thankfully, didn't involve small children, random body parts, or smelly fluids. Lauren was laughing so hard by then that she almost spit out the ice water that she had switched to partway through the evening, opting instead to dump the entire glass over into Bo's lap. Poor Bo shot up out of her chair so fast she almost knocked it over backward, ice cubes dropping off her skirt onto the floor. Lauren felt so bad that she offered to go with her to the restroom to get her dried off and ensure that the water didn't ruin her lovely silk blouse. The walk to the ladies' room was short but gave them a moment to calm down from all the commotion.

Once inside, Bo headed over to grab a handful of paper towels while Lauren leaned her back up against the counter, folding her arms loosely over her chest in a casual stance. "I am having such a great night with you guys!" Bo said as she joined Lauren at the row of sinks. "I moved here a year ago and haven't developed much of a social life yet. It's a miracle I even met Tom!" she went on as she dabbed gently at the dark spots on her lovely blue shirt.

Lauren's gaze lingered on the spot where Bo was dabbing, staring thoughtfully at her hands moving across the fabric. "You know, I meant to ask what your story is with Thomas; where you met, how long ago," she shrugged for no one in particular, "you know, the usual."

Bo's hands stopped what they were doing and dropped to her sides. "Lauren, I'm so sorry. I feel like I may have made a wrong first impression or picked the wrong time or place to finally meet you. I know you and Thomas go way back and clearly I didn't fully appreciate how you were going to react to the two of us being together..." she trailed off. The silence in the bathroom was almost deafening. But after a moment of collecting her own thoughts, Lauren finally met Bo's worried gaze with a worried look of her own. Lauren was startled to see how close they were standing to one another, their sides lightly pressed together, Lauren with her back to the row of sinks, and Bo facing forward to get a better look at what she was doing in the mirror. Why was Bo standing so close to her? Hadn't they had enough awkward touching for one day? But Lauren found herself enjoying the warmth emanating from the woman in front of her. And with that thought, the worry lines eased from Lauren's face and were replaced with a genuine smile and slight shake of her head.

"No, Bo. I'm the one who should be apologizing to you. I am so happy that you came tonight and that I had the chance to meet someone who is clearly an important part of Tom's life. You are..." she let out a slow breath"... beautiful. And wildly entertaining," she rushed on, suddenly aware of how that earlier comment might have come across. "And honestly, I've been such an asshole tonight and I apologize. I know it's not an excuse, but work has been rough this week and I've gotten so use to these get-togethers being just the three of us that I reacted badly when I realized there would be a fourth tonight. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Lauren finished, resting her hand softly on top of Bo's which was back at work dabbing at her blouse like a nervous tic. Lauren's gesture caused her to still in her motions for a moment and she glanced between Lauren and the hand touching her own, making no move to pull it away. The moment stretched on and eventually Lauren removed her hand, immediately missing the warmth from the other woman. Pushing up off the counter and away from Bo, Lauren glanced back over her shoulder as she headed out of the restroom, "I'll see you back at the table. Take your time, I'll have them top off your drink for when you get back." And with that, she offered one last smile and let the door close behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

A week had passed since the infamously awkward dinner with Emma, Thomas and his new lady love, Bo. Lauren tried not to dwell on the events of the evening too much, though she did find her thoughts drifting every so often to the dark-haired woman and the dimple in her right cheek that was almost permanently in place by the end of the evening. She wished she could have talked one-on-one with Bo once more before parting ways that night, but Bo and Thomas had left first, making some excuse about Bo having an early therapy session the next morning. Emma and Lauren had just turned and winked at one another knowingly. They both knew Thomas wanted to get home and do the nasty with his beautiful girlfriend while she was still relatively uninhibited from the wine. He wasn't fooling anyone. Shortly after, Emma had said goodbye and ran off to snuggle in for the night with Angie, who had texted Emma during dinner to let her know she would stay up until she got home. Not quite ready to go home to her quiet apartment, Lauren made her way back to her favorite leather sofa and watched the remains of the fire glowing in the fireplace and reflected back on the evening's events. She felt oddly lonely in that moment. Not just alone, but truly lonely. It had been a couple of years since her last boyfriend and, though she hadn't really been interested in putting herself back out there, maybe tonight had changed her mind for her. She really did miss the companionship and the feeling of being physically close to someone. Lauren's strange brush with Bo in the restroom earlier that evening had reminded her of what that closeness felt like.

_ Lauren was startled to see how close they were standing to one another, their sides lightly pressed together. Lauren found herself enjoying the warmth emanating from the woman in front of her. "You are..." she let out a slow breath"... beautiful. And wildly entertaining," Lauren finished, resting her hand softly on top of Bo's which was back at work dabbing at her blouse like a nervous tic. Lauren's gesture caused her to still in her motions for a moment and she glanced between Lauren and the hand touching her own, making no move to pull it away. _

But she didn't want to misplace that loneliness and need onto Bo. Besides, she seriously doubted that Bo felt anything at all in that moment. It was all so silly, really. Good god, she needed to get laid! And with that, the good doctor had pried herself up off the couch and trudged through the snowy night, sans boots, to her flat 8 and a 1/2 blocks away.

The days passed without much ado. She had briefly spoken with Thomas to apologize for her odd behavior and to assure him that she really did love his new girlfriend and couldn't wait to see more of her. And to please feel free to bring her to their gatherings on a regular basis if he'd like to. Thomas had sounded genuinely pleased by the offer, and with an enthusiastic goodbye, promised to talk to her the following week about something that he didn't have time to get into at the moment. Now didn't Lauren distinctly say that she liked a good mystery as much as the next person, but didn't like feeling out of the loop? With Thomas's cryptic goodbye hanging over her head, she willed the days to go by just a bit faster until she had a chance to speak with him about it. The day-to-day stuff in the lab was wearing on Lauren. The grant proposal was still in review by the foundation providing financial resources, and she was worried about what it would mean if they didn't get the funding this year. They had considered the plans for the next year very carefully based on the assumption that they would get the financial support they needed from the foundation, but the contingency plan they had made in the event the funding _didn't_ come through wasn't something they truly wanted to fall back on. Mainly because it would mean that either Henry or herself would have to move on to a different research project. You could literally cut the tension between them with a scalpel. Thankfully, her life didn't consist entirely of the lab and all its drama. Lauren had plans for the evening with Emma and Angie over at their place. She was promised her favorite meal - chicken teriyaki - and some excellent conversation, and maybe even a movie if they could all stay up late enough for that. So the anticipation of an evening with friends was what got her through the remaining hours of her day. With a terse goodbye to Henry who always managed to have his back to her whenever she tried to talk to him, she carefully took her lab coat off and placed it on its designated hook, put her favorite plaid wool pea coat on in its place and headed out the door. Emma and Angie lived in the next apartment building down from hers, so they saw each other relatively frequently, but that didn't mean she was any less excited about being invited over for the evening.

Lauren arrived at the couple's apartment around 5:30 after having stopped off at her place to change into a comfortable pair of jeans and her favorite hooded sweatshirt from Yale, tie her hair up in a loose ponytail - something she never did outside of a casual meeting with Emma - and grab the case of beer she had put in the fridge to chill in preparation for tonight's get-together. She stood outside the couple's door anticipating the fun night ahead of them, but before Lauren knew what hit her, Angie had flung the door open and swept Lauren up in a ridiculous hug that physically forced her from the doorway all the way down the hall and into the main living area where she was unceremoniously dropped back to the floor.

"Oomph! And hello to you too, Ang! What's with the Super Hulk welcome there? Been eating your spinach, I see?" Lauren snickered while playfully squeezing Angie's puny little biceps. Angie was, by far, the tiniest little Italian girl Lauren had ever met. She could barely claim to be 5 feet tall, and looked like she was a perpetual college student with her baby face and thin frame, something I'm sure she'd be thankful for a few decades from now. After the initial shock of being manhandled by her crazy friend wore off, she proceeded through their usual formalities... shoes off, inquire about how everyone's day was, set the table for dinner, get everyone's drink orders, etc. They were a well-oiled machine until...

*knock knock*

Lauren paused, _a la_ dear-in-the-headlights. "You expecting someone?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow and glancing back to Emma and Angie who were puttering around in the kitchen.

"Oh yeah," Emma said loudly from behind the door of the fridge. "Would you mind answering the door, Lauren? I'm trying to find something amongst all the leftover crap in this refrigerator and Angie has her hands buried in raw chicken."

"Sure, sure," Lauren muttered, still very confused by the sudden change in what Lauren believed to be their usual night in. Lauren must have took a bit longer to answer the door than she had meant to because the knocking began again, but louder this time. "One second," Lauren said to the mystery person on the other side of the door. As she pulled the chain away and swung the door open, she was shocked to see Bo standing there, flowers in hand, looking even prettier - if that was even possible - than she had last week at the restaurant. "Bo!" Lauren squeaked, shoving her hands quickly into her back pockets and striking what she hoped was a relaxed pose.

Bo smiled confidently and held her gaze, "Hello again, Lauren. It's so nice to see you. Mind if I come in? I want to get these flowers in some water," she asked casually, maintaining eye contact until Lauren suddenly came to her senses and stepped aside to let Bo through the front door that she had so rudely been blocking.

"Of course, of course. Those flowers are lovely, thank you," Lauren said, sincerely. This earned her a raised eyebrow and half-smile from Bo.

"Um, Lauren," Emma said, "I'm pretty sure Bo brought the flowers for us, you weirdo." Emma just chuckled lightly and accepted the flowers from Bo, thanking her again for the lovely gift and went back to the kitchen. Lauren, feeling impossibly more awkward as the seconds ticked on, decided to just give it up. She didn't know why she couldn't stop making an idiot of herself in front of this woman, so she decided to tray a different tack. Going into doctor-mode, Lauren stood up a bit straighter, took a breath and turned her attention on Bo. "It is so nice to see you again, too. Please, come in and make yourself comfortable," she said as she ushered Bo further into Emma and Angie's home. "Oh, and there's a no shoe policy, so if you want some slippers or something to wear, just let one of those two bums know. They'll hook you up." After leaving her shoes at the door and politely declining the offer for slippers 'or something', Bo began a slow walk around the couple's living room, checking out the decor and photographs spread strategically throughout the living space. Bo noticed a lovely painting, somewhat impressionistic, of a woman gazing out a window. Lauren saw Bo pause in front of the painting and walked up behind he quietly. "What are you looking at?" Lauren asked in a soft, non-accusatory voice. Bo, not having realized Lauren was standing so close, backed up a bit at the sudden noise and ran herself right into the front of Lauren. "Whoa whoa, didn't mean to scare you," Lauren chuckled, steadying Bo from behind with a firm grip to her upper arms, noticing the slight height advantage she had in bare feet. She could feel, more than hear, Bo take a deep breath and she immediately dropped her hands back to her sides so as not to make Bo feel uncomfortable.

"I was admiring this painting. They have some beautiful pieces in their home. I love seeing what others are inspired or moved by. Perhaps that's the psychiatrist in me coming out. This piece, though... I really love this one. Do you know where they acquired it?"

"From me," Lauren responded.

"Oh! Did you find it at a gallery or street fair? I would love to see more of the artist's work. There's something about it... a feeling I get when I look at it..." she trailed off, reaching her hand slowly toward the painting.

"I actually know the artist personally," Lauren stated, intentionally drawing the conversation out well past the point of necessity.

"You do?" she said quickly, turning her head around to look at where she thought Lauren was standing. Little did she know that Lauren had remained directly behind her after their little 'run in' a minute ago, so when her head swiveled around toward Lauren, she was startled by the pair of light brown eyes looking back at here from mere inches away. But she didn't flinch or retreat, she held her ground, slowly shifting her gaze between Lauren's eyes and other parts of her face, seemingly taking it all in while she had the chance.

"Well, you're looking at her," Lauren breathed out, offering a shy smile.

"It's... you're... lovely," Bo stuttered. "Your work!" she all but shouted, "...your _work_ is lovely."

Lauren almost laughed out loud at how absurd this was. First Lauren basically told Bo she was beautiful after having known her for all of a second, in a _bathroom_ nonetheless, now Bo was calling her 'lovely' and blushing like a school girl. Could their interactions be any more unusual or awkward? Lauren did not do well with things that were out of the ordinary. She was far too cerebral of a person to handle it well, lacking the necessary social flexibility to accommodate the unexpected. But this time? This time felt different. She really wanted to _try_ and accommodate, _try _to wrap her mind around this, because Bo made her feel things that she hadn't felt in a long time - intrigued, curious, _excited. _ Somewhere in the back of her mind, it occurred to her that this was Thomas's _girlfriend _she was suddenly taking an interest in, and that twinge of guilt and embarrassment and fear of the unknown almost caused Lauren to back down. And as quickly as those doubts entered her mind, she pushed them away again. She didn't even know Bo yet. Maybe this was just a passing infatuation. There was no point in stopping something that hadn't even started yet. Perhaps Lauren just needed some time to get to know Bo a bit better - forge a friendship and see what this sudden, new attraction was all about. And as those thoughts bounced around in Lauren's over-worked brain, Bo just waited, silently gazing into Lauren's soft brown eyes with a look that Lauren could swear was almost...

Lauren was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of Angie clearing her throat loudly from her position at the table. Lauren chanced a glance at her and was met by a not-so-subtle glare and a flick of her finger, indicating she would like to have a word with Lauren, _now_. Leaving Bo to continue her exploration of the living room, she joined Angie over at the table.

"What are you doing," hissed Angie, grabbing her a bit roughly by the upper arm and dragging her into the seat next to. Did Lauren mention how freakishly strong this lady was? Geez! Lauren had the good graces to look adequately chastised and sat rubbing her arm for a moment while Angie waited for Emma to join them. Once the three had assembled, Angie leaned forward and, in a measured tone, asked Lauren what it was that she had just interrupted over there by her painting. Emma's eyes got wide and she looked intently at Lauren, waiting to hear her excuse.

"Nothing, guys!" Lauren declared a bit too loudly, drawing a glance from Bo who had moved on to look at some old photographs of Emma's family. "Nothing," she said more softly. "I had surprised her a second ago while she was distracted by the painting and she stumbled back into me. We just... I was steadying her. She hadn't had the chance to move away yet, that's all," she finished, looking down at her hands clasped in her lap.

"O - kay..." Emma drew out. "Clearly I'm missing something here, so help me out," she finished, looking at Angie for clarification.

"Mmmm. I guess I was wrong," Angie gave in quickly. "You're right, I must have looked over at a weird time, sorry about that."

But Lauren saw the look Angie was giving her. They had known each other for years at this point and she saw disapproval shining brightly in her green eyes. Angie knew exactly what she had interrupted, though Lauren hadn't been entirely sure what was happening at the time. But Lauren got the message loud and clear - _just cool it_. With a sigh, Lauren got up from the table and excused herself to go splash some really cold water on her face and try to get a hold of all of the feelings flying around inside of her making her act perhaps more boldly than she should. Calm, collected, confident Dr. Lauren Lewis was back in place. She could do this - she could make it through an evening with her friends and Bo without doing something she'd regret later...


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

When Lauren emerged from the bathroom, she heard the girls talking over the clatter of silverware and dishes being moved around. She lingered in the hallway for a moment when she heard Angie ask Bo how things were going with Thomas. Lauren noticed Bo's brief pause before she responded with the obligatory "fine", causing Angie to prod her more.

"What? Just '_fine_'? I demand a better answer than that, otherwise I'm going to force another beer down your throat and ask you again. I can keep that up aaallll night if I have to," she finished, earning her a skeptical and mildly horrified look from Bo and a knowing nod from Emma.

"Things with Thomas are going really well," Bo quickly divulged. "We've been dating for... gosh, almost 5 months now and he is a wonderful, smart, funny-_funny_ man. I'd be lying if I didn't say I wish he wouldn't dress better than me all the time, but if that's my biggest complaint," she shrugged and gave a lopsided grin, "then I'd say things are working out just fine for us."

"That's great, Bo," Emma chimed in. "It's about time Thomas finally found someone with a great head on their shoulders. I cannot stress enough how happy I am that you are employed, have normal colored hair, and have words in your vocabulary that are more than two syllables," she finished, laughing heartily.

"Agreed!" exclaimed Angie, patting Bo on the back while Bo just sat there grinning goofily at the couple.

"What's all the commotion, ladies?" Lauren asked, emerging from the hallway and taking a seat beside Bo at the dinner table.

"These two were just congratulating me on my lovely hair, employment status, and extraordinary command of the English language," Bo responded cheekily.

"More or less," Emma muttered, now slightly embarrassed by what she had said to Bo.

Lauren looked between the three ladies and decided to let the conversation drop. Besides, the food was hot and ready to eat, and Lauren wanted nothing more than to shove her face full of the teriyaki chicken sitting enticingly in front of her. Reaching out to grab the serving spoon, her hand collided with Bo's who had the exact idea she had.

"Oh geez, I didn't spill any did I?" Bo asked in alarm.

"No no. Not to worry. Why don't you let me serve you? It looks like you and I are one natural disaster after another when we're in the same room," Lauren commented, intentionally avoiding eye contact this time as she gathered everyone's plates and began to serve.

"So Lauren," Bo started in, breaking the brief silence, "tell me more about what you do and how you ended up in research."

"Ah, well about a year ago I left clinical practice and joined Henry, another research fellow, on a long-term project looking at potential genetic markers for two different rare congenital disorders. The two disorders share very similar clinical manifestations including remarkably similar facial dysmorphologies, but we don't know just yet what genes may be contributing to the disorders and if they are, in fact, two _different _disorders. Unfortunately," Lauren continued, putting the serving bowls back in the center of the table and picking up her fork to begin eating, "we are potentially going to get cut short by a lack of funding, like I was telling you guys at dinner the other night. And if that's the case," she said, taking a small bite of some broccoli, "then I may have to look into switching to a different research team," she finished, letting out a small sigh as she continued chewing. "But enough about me, I would love to hear more about your psychiatric practice. Where exactly is your clinic located?"

"I'm actually in walking distance from here, over at the Park Street Medical Campus."

Lauren's bite of chicken stalled somewhere between her plate and her open mouth as she stared openly at Bo. "Are you kidding?" Lauren asked, fork still hovering in limbo in front of her. "That's where my research lab is located! Top floor, south side of the elevators."

"Seriously?! How in the world have we never run into each other?" Bo asked, incredulously.

Lauren shrugged, flashing a smile just before she shoveled the previously abandoned piece of chicken into her mouth. "Well I have a feeling we'll see each other around the office a _lot_ more now," she said to no one in particular as she chewed her food thoughtfully, ignoring the blatant glare Angie was casting her direction.

"I look forward to it, Lauren," Bo said off-handedly as she picked up her beer bottle and took a swig.

Emma and Angie couldn't even believe what was going on at their dinner table. Was Lauren _flirting? _With _Bo?_ They had known Lauren for such a long time and had never had any real conversation about her sexual preferences, though they had assumed that she was attracted predominantly to men since Lauren had only had boyfriends in the time that they had known one-another. Maybe they had assumed incorrectly. Either way, this little revelation wasn't as important at the moment as the fact that Bo was their best friend's S.O. and if they had one hard and fast rule in their group it was not to shit on your own doorstep. 'Nough said. But Lauren was heading into dangerous territory and as her long-time friends, the two of them needed to intervene before things got out of hand. So as Lauren and Bo continued to chat and enjoy a light banter with one another, the other couple silently made a pact to have a heart-to-heart with Lauren before the night ended.

But until then, they had a movie to watch! Emma stood up and made her way rather briskly into the living room, calling over her shoulder, "Last one to the living room is gonna find themselves gettin' cozy with our cold, hardwood floor!"

And in the blink of an eye, the other three jumped up from the table, almost knocking each other over in their haste to get to the couch before the others. Lauren tripped at one point over what she thought might be Angie's ratty slippers, but that didn't slow her down much. With a bit of a leap, she managed to sprawl out over the part of the couch that wasn't already taken up by Emma, leaving no room for either of the other girls. Lauren and Emma grinned stupidly at one another from their respective ends of, what would henceforth be referred to as, '_The_ _Couch of Glory'_ and gave each other a congratulatory high-five for their sheer awesomeness. Bo and Angie just stood in front of them with arms crossed, looking mildly annoyed. But in a sudden blur of movement, Bo and Angie leapt onto the two girls and made themselves comfortable situated atop Lauren and Emma's outstretched legs. Now _that_ called for a high-five.

The four women dissolved into a fit of laughter and tried their best to pile off one another and find a more comfortable seating arrangement. In the end, they all managed to squeeze onto the couch together so no one was stuck on the cold floor, which Lauren was extremely thankful for since that was her usual spot when they had Thomas over.

The thought of Thomas sobered Lauren up just a bit. She could hear the other girls trying to decide what movie to watch, but she wasn't really paying any attention. Images of Tom and Bo together at last week's dinner soured her stomach and drew attention to the fact that their new seat assignments had placed her smack dab between Emma and Bo. Lauren's face flushed and she felt uncomfortably warm all of a sudden. She must have given off a wave of body heat because Bo turned to her with a slightly worried expression, her lips pressed tightly together in a straight line. But Lauren resisted looking back at her and kept her eyes glued to the television pretending to watch Angie set up whatever movie they had ultimately decided on. She thought maybe they had chosen a comedy, but she didn't recognize the name so she couldn't be certain. It didn't matter, though. Lauren doubted that, given her current situation, she'd be paying much attention to it anyway. For a fleeting moment she wished she would have just sat on the floor like she always did, and _that_ was saying something. But thankfully Angie had made quick work of getting the movie started, drawing Bo's attention away from Lauren and back to the television. Before returning to her spot next to Emma, Angie grabbed everyone a cold beer from the fridge and turned off a few lights to make the movie-watching a bit more enjoyable. Lauren was just happy to have something to hold in her hands to keep her from fidgeting, and the low lighting would hopefully make it harder for anyone to realize she wasn't paying any attention.

They had only made it about 15 minutes into the movie and Lauren was already starting to feel just a tad claustrophobic sandwiched between the two girls. In an effort to ease her discomfort, she took her free arm that wasn't responsible for holding onto her beer and placed it along the top of the couch behind Bo's head. In retrospect, she probably should have moved her beer to her _other_ hand and then made her suave college-boy move on Emma. But no.

Lauren did her best to follow along with the movie, and she had to admit that it _was_ pretty entertaining. But she found herself becoming more and more distracted as time wore on by Bo's shifting - a graze of her elbow across Lauren's side, a brush of a finger along her leg, her hair lightly sweeping Lauren's arm where it lay draped along the top of the couch. Every movement left her tingling wherever Bo's body had made contact with her own. It was as amazing as it was alarming. But for all of the crazy effects Bo's proximity was having on Lauren, it didn't seem like Bo was phased by it at all. And that single thought was like a slap to the face, leaving her feeling very foolish and, if she was being honest, incredibly vulnerable. Lauren took that moment of clarity to remove her arm from behind Bo and extricate herself from the human sandwich, mumbling some excuse about needing to refresh her drink.

Emma, who had been waiting for an opening since dinner, followed Lauren into the kitchen in hopes of having 'the talk'.

"Do you want another beer," Emma asked her friend, "or are you switching to something non-alcoholic for the rest of the night? Drunk-walking is extremely dangerous, you know," Emma said, laughing at her own joke.

"I... uh..." Lauren responded awkwardly. She hadn't actually come in to the kitchen with the intention of getting a drink, she had only done it to distance herself from Bo and her own rampant teenage hormones. "... I'll just have some ice water, thanks."

Emma quickly filled a glass with water from the kitchen sink and threw a few ice cubes in it before handing the glass to Lauren. Offering a polite '_thank you'_, Lauren turned around, looking out across the dining room and into the living room where Angie and Bo were seated on the couch. The girls had paused the movie when Lauren and Emma had gone off to refill their drinks and were chatting away animatedly about who-knows-what. Lauren noticed how expressive Bo was when she talked, her hands moving about as if painting a picture. But her favorite thing was by far her smile - so quick to come out and slow to fade. Lost in thought, Lauren didn't even notice that Emma had been watching her watching Bo, her mouth turning down slightly at the corners and her forehead furrowing.

"Lauren, I think we need to talk about something."

Though Emma's voice did its job in successfully bringing her out of her temporary stupor, Lauren remained where she was, her gaze still fixed on the two girls sitting Indian-style on the couch.

"Emma, please don't," Lauren quietly pleaded. She knew where this was going. She was all too aware of her own behavior this evening, and the last thing she wanted to do was bring it all out into the open.

"Bo," Emma began, ignoring Lauren's plea to let it drop, "is great. In fact, Angie and I have really enjoyed getting to know her over the past few months." And as Emma droned on about Bo, Lauren's brain spun round and round with the realization that her suspicions about Emma's seeming familiarity with Bo last week at dinner had been true. They _had_ met Bo before - _long_ before. Why hadn't anyone mentioned her? Why didn't Tom say anything to her the dozen or more times she had talked to him over the past few months?

Emma's words started to filter back into Lauren's brain. She was saying something about how she hadn't really expected to have this particular conversation with Lauren after all these years of friendship, but that being attracted to another woman is really common, especially someone like Bo who is self-assured, intelligent, blah blah blah - all the while, Lauren's attention remained fixed on Bo and Angie. The more she studied Bo, the more she noticed how physical she was with Angie - the touching, the frequent invasion of her personal space, the long, steady looks and warm smiles. Was she that way with _everyone_? Was Lauren mistaking Bo's innate physicality for mutual attraction?

"You need to drop this, Lauren. What's that old saying, 'don't shit on someone... some_thing_... yourself'? Well, you get the point..." she trailed off.

Slowly turning around, Lauren finally spoke, "Emma, I don't know what's come over me. I feel..." she tried, then paused. "I feel this... connection to her. I'm not even sure I can explain it any other way," she finished with a sigh, slumping back against the kitchen counter.

"I get it Lauren, I do, but this is Thomas's girlfriend. She's not up for grabs, so you need to back off before you do something you can't take back."

Lauren shoved her hands deep into the front pocket of her hooded sweatshirt, wishing she could just fold in on herself. Letting out a shaky breath, "I don't think I can... I don't think I can let this go."

"Well you don't have that choice."

"I do, though," Lauren said, feeling her resolve strengthen. "Thomas is one of my oldest and dearest friends, but they've only been going out a few months," Lauren tried to reason. "Who knows, maybe their relationship won't last and then she'll be a free agent. I can be patient. Besides..."

"Lauren..." Emma attempted to interject.

"Bo is an adult. She can decide for herself who she does or does not want to be with. I'll just make it known that I'm an option for her if..."

"Lauren!" Emma tried again a bit more forcefully.

"... she were to become available. I'm not going to go behind Tom's back and have an affair with her, for goodness sake. Give me more credit than..."

"He's going to propose!" Emma practically shouted.

Silence.

Sudden laughter coming from the living room did nothing to break through the tension engulfing the two women.

"_Shit_," Lauren said under her breath. Setting her glass on the counter, she hastily gathered her bag, slipped her shoes back on her feet and walked out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

She couldn't have been more grateful for the bitter cold walk between Emma and Angie's apartment building and her own. It was the literal cold slap in the face that she needed to jump-start her intelligent, rational self to combat the idiotic, hormone-driven version that was previously occupying her body. In the 5 minutes it took her to get home, she had managed to run through about 1,000 emotions ranging from guilt and shame, to doubt and overwhelming isolation. Lauren was so embarrassed by her behavior toward Bo, and more-so by the things that came pouring out of her mouth when Emma tried to talk to her about it. Did she really plan to tell Bo she's available if, you know, she ever wanted to ditch Thomas and _hook up with her instead_?! Seriously, who says that?! And **_propose_**? After 5 months?! It felt like the world was imploding. It was all too much to handle at one time.

Though Lauren didn't recall letting herself in the front door of her apartment or where she left her shoes or purse, she was so grateful to be home; somewhere safe where she could try to pull her thoughts back together. she spent the next hour oscillating between crying, laughing, questioning herself, questioning her friends, contemplating her own motivations. By the end of it, her apartment and her person were significantly worse for wear. Dragging herself up and off of her bed, she went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face and try to regain her composer. In the first real moment of lucidity that night, she grabbed her phone out of her back pocket and made a phone call that, though she didn't know it at the time, would change everything.

Lauren waited for the person on the other end to pick up.

"Oh hey!" she responded back.

Pause.

"Yeah, it was nice. Good food, good company."

"No, no, I'm feeling fine, just didn't want to stick around for the movie tonight. I wasn't in the mood."

"Mmmm hmmm."

"Are you available right now?"

"Great. You already there?"

"See you in 15. Oh, and get me a beer." And with that, Lauren slid the phone back into her pocket, located her purse and shoes and left the house for the second time that evening.

Lauren approached the familiar spot, a place that held so many memories for the three friends. Thomas, sensing her arrival, got up from his spot on the couch to wrap her in his strong embrace, holding on just a bit tighter than usual.

"Hey, gorgeous," Tom said softly in her ear, offering an extra little squeeze to punctuate his words.

"Hey yourself," she answered back, her voice muffled by his shirt.

Lauren lingered there, basking in the familiar warmth and security it offered, fortifying her for what was to come. She offered Tom a quick peck on the cheek and pulled away, going to sit down at one end of the couch and picking up the cold beer from the side table that Tom had left there in anticipation of her arrival.

After joining her on the couch, Tom immediately started catching her up on the latest news around the hospital and offering updates on mutual friends that Lauren didn't see nearly as often since she accepted the position at the lab. She always appreciated how easily conversation flowed between her and Tom, but tonight there was something far more pressing to attend to.

"I know about Bo," Lauren blurted out, effectively cutting off a rather graphic telling of a patient with a pretty funky rash Tom had treated recently.

"I'm sorry, know _what_ about Bo?" Tom asked with a genuine look of confusion on his face.

"That you're planning on proposing to her," Lauren responded, her eyes trained on Thomas's, daring him to look away first.

"I see."

"Doesn't it seem a bit early in your relationship for a marriage proposal, Tom?" she asked a bit harshly.  
"I mean, how long have you known the girl? After all, **_I _**just met her _two weeks ago_!" Lauren's voice was getting louder. "**_Two weeks_**, Tom! But hey, no big deal, right? I'm just your best friend. It shouldn't matter to me that you've been seeing her for _months_ already and didn't bother to mention her. Not once! " Lauren was livid by this point, surprising even herself at how quickly things had escalated. She was finding it difficult to stay seated, wishing she could give Tom a solid punch to the shoulder; anything to let out some of the hurt and anger she felt. Breathing hard, Lauren paused to let her words sink in. "What was it Tom? Were you _hiding_ her from me?" Lauren asked much quieter now, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "God, Tom. Everyone knew but me. _Everyone,_" she whispered, a tear finally slipping out, leaving a shiny track down her left cheek.

"Lauren," Tom said pleadingly, "please don't." Reaching out, he ran his thumb gently over her cheek, wiping away the wetness there before dropping his hand back to his lap. "It wasn't like that, Lauren. I was going to tell you," he continued with a hint of urgency in his voice. But Lauren's anger started to mount again. She could feel herself tensing, wishing now that she had thought through what she was going to say before coming here tonight.

"When, Tom? When were you going to tell me? Certainly not months ago when Emma found out. Not during any of the dozens of times we spoke on the phone or over dinner. What is it, then, Tom? Does our friendship not mean as much to you as it does to me? Is that it?" Lauren demanded to know.

"Ugh_, fuuuuck_," Thomas let out in frustration. He always did have a way with words. "Fuck, fuck, _fuuuuuck_," he carried on, getting up off the couch and pacing in front of the fireplace, rubbing his face repeatedly. "This was not how this was supposed to go," he mumbled to himself.

And just like that, the pacing and the face-rubbing and the talking all stopped and he turned to Lauren, "I'm in love with you," he let out in a breath.

_Stop._

_Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop..._

"I've been in love with you since...well... forever," he continued, coming back to sit beside her on the couch.

_Oh my god, please stop. Stop, stop, stop_.

"And all those disapproving looks you use to give my girlfriends over the years - every one of them - you always had one excuse or another why you didn't think they were right for me. And I thought... well, I had _hoped _that maybe you were jealous. That maybe that meant you felt the same way."

_No, no, no._ '_Tom, stop'_, Lauren's mind was begging. Her discomfort was palpable.

"Tom, please," Lauren finally managed to say, her voice barely above a whisper. "You have to stop."

"You're right, Lauren," Tom conceded. " That's just it, I have to stop," he sighed, visibly deflating.

Getting over the initial shock of his words, Lauren's discomfort was quickly replaced by an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She looked at Tom - really _looked_ at him - sitting there next to her, so lost and defeated. His usually boyish face had a distinct aged quality to it, as if revealing his long-held secret had literally worn him out.

"I don't know what to say, Tom."

"You don't need to say anything. I've realized for a while now that whatever it is that I felt for you wasn't mutual. I hadn't planned to tell you, but this whole thing with Bo got completely out of control." Tom reached for Lauren's hands, grasping them firmly in his own and drawing her eyes back up to his face. "Lauren, I am so sorry," he said with such sincerity," for everything."

At his words, fresh tears fell from Lauren's eyes. Her heart broke for this beautiful man sitting in front of her.

"Firstly," she sniffled, "I hate you for making me cry." That earned her a warm smile from Thomas which she happily returned. "And secondly, I owe you an apology as well. I didn't mean to belittle your relationship with Bo just because I was upset with you about something else. She is an amazing woman and I can see that you really care for her. " And as much as it pained her to say it, she really did want her friend to be happy. If Bo was what was going to do that for him, then she would need to set aside her own feelings and desires and support the two of them as a couple.

"As much as I would love to lighten the mood a bit and move on to talking about the weather or sports, even - god help me - you never said why it was that you kept Bo a secret from me this whole time."

"Oh my god, Lauren, are you _trying_ to kill me?" Thomas whined. "I really think we should let this lie and chalk it up to poor judgment on my part."

"Please, Thomas," Lauren prodded gently. "I just need to know, and I promise that whatever it is you're going to say, it won't change anything between us or make things awkward. _Really,_" she added, nudging his knee with her own.

Thomas redirected his gaze to the burning fire, taking a moment to think about what he wanted to say.

"I think I avoided introducing you to her because," he paused, squinting slightly as if trying to see something far off in the distance, "I was afraid of being in the same room with the two of you."

That was an unusual response. Lauren wasn't entirely sure what that meant but was almost afraid to ask for clarification. But she didn't need to because Thomas began to speak again, as if sensing her confusion.

"It's like... when you're around, all I can see is you."

Lauren was speechless. Thomas was never one to express such romantic sentiments, and Lauren had certainly never been on the receiving end . Torn between making some type of physical contact to reassure him that she had heard him and was okay with what he had said, or giving him space to collect his thoughts, she went with the latter.

After another brief pause, he continued, "From the moment I met her, I really thought that Bo and I had a chance and I didn't want to ruin the promise of something more by setting us up for failure." Thomas leaned further back into the couch, extending his legs out in front of him and crossing his feet at the ankles, striking a surprisingly casual pose given the circumstances. "I kept holding off your meeting - week after week after week. Obviously some of that was just bad timing, what with your new position at the lab and the long days you've been putting in lately and my ridiculous on-call schedule at the hospital. Time just... got away."

And there it all was - everything out in the open. Well... almost everything. He didn't need to know about Lauren's crazy infatuation with Bo, or getting caught flirting at Emma's house this evening. That was water under the bridge. Lauren was ready to move forward and told Tom more or less the same. To ease the tension in the room and give herself a moment to collect her thoughts, Lauren asked Tom to tell her about how he and Bo had met and get her up to speed on everything she had missed in that time. As Tom spoke enthusiastically about all things 'Bo', Lauren sat comfortably in her corner of the soft leather couch, nursing her beer. She wondered idly if all the important things in her life were destined to happen on this couch. The thought brought a smile to her lips, though it didn't last long.

Truth carries a lot of weight. And Lauren had wanted so badly to mean it when she had promised Tom that she would be okay with whatever he told her; that it wouldn't change things between them. But she knew, even as she said it, that it was a lie. She felt the very foundation of their friendship shift tonight. It was unfair in so many ways. For Tom, nothing was different. He had carried his feelings for Lauren for years and had forged and strengthened that friendship with those feelings firmly in place. But for Lauren, she struggled to assimilate this new information. It was like when she was in grade school and learned that humans had once walked from Russia to Alaska. But no matter how ridiculous it may sound when you say it out loud, it doesn't make it any less true.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Monday could not have come sooner. Lauren had gone home Friday night in a haze after her conversation with Thomas, hardly even noticing how cold it was or the snow weighing down her steps as she slowly trudged home from the restaurant. Was it weird to secretly wish that a city worker had left a manhole cover off that she could just fall right into, never to be heard from again? But alas, she made it home that night without incident, though her whole weekend was a wash. She didn't even get the laundry done that she had piled up on the floor of her closet. She slept, she ate, she watched a mind-numbing amount of television - but in between all of those activities, her brain was in overdrive. She replayed Thomas's words to her at the restaurant and wondered how she could have gone all of these years without noticing how he felt about her. She reflected back on their, albeit brief, fling years ago and about how it had meant almost nothing to her, but how much it must have meant to him. Did she crush him when she told him it wasn't really working for her and that she thought they were much better at being friends? The more Lauren thought about her relationship with Thomas, the more she realized that _none_ of her previous romantic relationships were very impressive. Lauren had always felt like she was experiencing it all on a different level than the other person; she was always a bit less engaged and rarely felt bad when the relationship ultimately ended. The failed attempt with Thomas was a bit different in that she feared that it would negatively impact their friendship. But they had survived the breakup without any lasting problems... or at least none that Lauren had been aware of. In a way, it had surprised Lauren that they weren't able to make it work. They were compatible in so many ways. He was a very handsome man, and they had so many shared experiences and common interests. Lauren was definitely attracted to Thomas, but when their relationship turned from just an intense friendship to something physical, the sparks weren't there. Lauren felt... well... nothing. She loved him, that was certain, but there was nothing more there, no matter how much she wished there was. But when her mind turned to Bo... _my god, _she had never felt something so intense in her entire life. It was something she couldn't explain or even begin to understand, but she just knew - in every fiber of her being - that Bo was something unique. If things weren't so incredibly complicated where Bo was concerned, she certainly would not be sitting in her apartment in her pajamas watching reruns of Frasier on the television. _Definitely _not. She would have asked Bo out like she had wanted to since their first meeting two weeks ago. They would be out having a drink, eating good food, talking about everything and nothing, and maybe... just maybe... their night would end in a kiss.

Well. That would never happen. Bo was off the table and - her irrational outburst at Emma's house aside - Lauren was not a home wrecker. She loved Thomas like a brother and was not about to do something to jeopardize their relationship.

When her alarm went off Monday morning, she practically jumped out of bed. She was just so relieved to find herself in a familiar routine; to have that little bit of normalcy returned to her.

The walk to her lab that morning was a quick one, as if physically separating herself from her apartment would allow her a similar emotional separation from her inner turmoil. If she could have ran all the way to work, by god she would have.

Even though the lab was a stressful place these days, Lauren never really minded going to work. She was someone who had always worked hard and tended to enjoy it. Even if something came easy to her, she would push herself to do more; it was a challenge to herself. Her work didn't define her, but her work ethic did. Though she was never one to brag or draw attention to herself, she certainly took a lot of pride in her accomplishments.

Arriving extra early for work, her walk through the front entrance of the Medical Campus building was, as always, one of her favorite parts of the day. The main lobby was large and airy, almost entirely encased in glass which brightened up even the drabbest winter days. At this hour of morning, the women who manned the information booth could always be found chatting amiably and laughing while sipping at their hot coffees. They seemed a bit surprised to see Lauren this early since her usual arrival wasn't for another hour or so. The very fact that they knew Lauren and what her usual schedule was, made her feel extra special. Lauren walked past the three women, addressing them all by name and wishing them a wonderful morning, which they all returned in kind.

After the usual greetings from the ladies at the information booth and a quick elevator ride to her top floor lab, she was ready to start her day. Lauren exchanged her winter jacket for the white lab coat she had hung on her peg at the end of the day on Friday and started making her rounds, checking in with the handful of lab personnel who, like Lauren, had decided to get an early start on the day's work. At some point during that time, Henry had arrived. He had a sulky expression from the second he stepped foot in the lab and Lauren made it a point to leave him for last since he always found a way to sour her good mood. She had a pretty good idea about why Henry went into research, if his prickly disposition was any indication of his general bedside manner. She just wished they hadn't been assigned to the same lab, especially since her unofficial status as lead researcher had put the kibosh on what little civility he had shown her. After a brief team huddle to discuss some of the major issues and plans for the week and ensure that everyone was on the same page, Lauren sat down at her work space and started in on the large stack of papers waiting for her.

And just like that, Monday morning came and went. Usually lunch time was a solitary affair, but today was different. She had made sure to ask her favorite lobby receptionist, Patrice, where the psych clinic was located when she came in that morning, and before Lauren even realized it, she found herself standing at the receptionists desk of Bo's office.

"What can I do ya for?" the clinic receptionist asked in an offhanded manner.

"I'm looking for Bo," Lauren stated, trying not to stare openly at the young woman behind the counter. She was, Lauren could only describe as, 'office inappropriate' with medium-length black hair that was neon blue at the tips, dark almost goth-inspired clothing, and purple finger nails that were in the process of being filed. _'Oh goodness_,' Lauren thought, trying hard not to roll her eyes. "Ummm..." Lauren leaned forward a bit trying to read the receptionist's name tag, "Kenzi?"

"Oh, yeah, " Kenzi finally responded, "she's actually standing right over there," she gestured to the far corner of the waiting room. "But I would give her just a sec, it looks like she's finishing up with a client."

"Thank you," Lauren said with a smile and nod of her head.

Lauren waited patiently over by the check-in counter while Bo said some parting words to an elderly gentleman who had Bo's hand firmly between his own. Lauren couldn't tell if he was using it to keep his balance or if he was merely enjoying this small connection to another person. Lauren loved this - watching Bo with other people. Though she exuded confidence, with her back straight and head held high, there was still a softness and an unassuming nature about her. And she was truly the master of eye contact. Lauren's lab colleagues could certainly learn a thing or two from Bo on that subject. They were all just a bit socially awkward, Lauren included.

After giving the gentleman's hand a final reassuring squeeze and reminding him to make his next appointment a week from now, Bo finally turned toward Lauren. Lauren could see the exact second Bo noticed her standing there. She had the briefest moment of surprise come over her that was quickly replaced with a huge smile that made Lauren's chest constrict. And then she was walking over to her in long, confident strides.

"Well well well, if it isn't Dr Lewis," Bo smirked, enjoying this little game of formalities.

"Dr Denis, so nice to see you today," Lauren replied, playing along.

"And to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I couldn't let it be said that I knew you worked in the same building and didn't even invite you to our lovely cafeteria for a meal or two. How terribly un-chivalrous of me."

"True, true. Well!" Bo exclaimed, clasping her hands together and turning to Kenzi. "Kenz, Dr Lewis and I are going to grab some lunch. I don't have my next client until 1:00, so if you need me in the meantime, just page." She started moving toward the main doors but stopped just before exiting. "Do you want me to get you anything while we are at the cafeteria?" Bo paused and then added in a stage whisper, "It's on me."

"Hells yeah! I thought you'd never ask! I'll take one of everything," Kenzi responded cheekily, though Lauren suspected that somewhere in there, she was serious. "You're the best, Bo Bo! See ya in a tic."

Though Lauren was definitely surprised and slightly thrown off by Kenzi's seemingly over-familiarity with Bo and - to be completely honest - her clothing, she had to admit she found her kind of likable Ah well, chalk it up to wanting to get on Bo's good side. What better way than to make nice with her friends, no matter how... quirky.

The two women made their way down to the ground-floor cafeteria. The cafeteria had surprisingly good food and the space was beautiful with long rows of floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over a large patio area. They wouldn't be able to eat outside for a few months yet, but they found a small table along the wall of windows so they could at least enjoy the view. Lauren and Bo were engaged in an easy banter, telling stories about med school and residency and teasing each other when the stories turned embarrassing or just plain silly. Lauren couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed herself this much while at work. Numerous times throughout their hour lunch she had wanted to invite Bo to see her lab, but she was already self-conscious about how she was behaving around Bo so she decided against it. Lauren was finding it incredibly difficult to build a friendship with Bo while respecting the very clear boundaries that needed to exist between the two of them. It was so natural for her gaze to linger, eyes to drift over Bo's face, hand to reach out and lightly touch Bo - her arm, her knee, her hand. But Bo was as much at fault, for every gesture and every look was reciprocated with one of her own. It all felt so natural and so _right_.

Lunchtime was over far too quickly. Lauren walked Bo back to her office, albeit begrudgingly. Once there, Lauren attempted a smile and a small wave to Kenzi, but Kenzi was too engrossed in the sack of food Bo had brought back from the cafeteria for her to notice. And in a move that was possibly more surprising for Lauren than it was for Bo, gave Bo a quick peck on the cheek and a whispered 'thank you' before making a hasty retreat back to her corner of the world. She didn't even wait to see Bo's reaction, though just before she made it out the door, she thought she saw Bo's hand move to the spot her lips had just occupied. _What a great day_, Lauren thought to herself as she made her way to the elevators. She couldn't even help the blush that was creeping up her cheeks or the soft sigh that escaped her lips as the elevator doors opened. She could feel guilty for her afternoon with Bo later. For now, she just wanted to savor it.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry that these updates have slowed down so much. I just had laser corrective surgery on one of my eyes (by choice) and the recovery time is looooong, so it's been challenging for me to spend time staring at a computer screen. But things are moving along and I have finally been able to get through this chapter.

I took the end of this chapter in a slightly different direction than I had initially intended - I changed the end of this kind of at the last minute. I don't know if it is a good plot choice or if the dialogue is in-character, so feedback would be great. It is occurring to me right at this very moment that I should maybe hold off publishing this chapter until I have the next one all queued up and ready to go... but it might be a few more days until it's set and I don't like to keep people hanging. So lets all hope for the best!

Thanks again to all of my readers! You guys are amazing :)

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CHAPTER 6

"This one guy, he had a crazy obsession with My Little Ponies. Use to carry them with him to his appointments... in a purse! And not just any purse, but a Gucci! Not gonna lie, that man had taste. Creepy mo-fo... but I respect the Gucci," Kenzi finished, giving a shout-out gesture to the Gucci gods. This was the fourth time in just over a week that Lauren and Bo were having lunch together at work, and somewhere along the way Kenzi had gotten the impression that she was invited as well. So here they all sat, the three of them - Lauren practically choking on the spaghetti noodles that she had shoveled into her mouth during Kenzi's "telling", Bo just staring across the table in abject disbelief, and Kenzi oblivious to it all. She didn't think Bo appreciated Kenzie divulging things about her patients, especially in such a public place. After safely swallowing her food, Lauren attempted to shift the conversation back to a safer topic, opting for the classic '_Why psychiatry?' _ line.

Bo looked thoughtful for a moment while Kenzi went back to texting some cousin she referred to as "Greggers" about a suspicious amount of stereo equipment he procured overnight.

"You know, I'm not really sure. I mean, I didn't have anyone close to me who suffered from mental illness, and I didn't even have any experience with seeing a psychiatrist or therapist myself," she paused, contemplatively, "but I decided on the specialty pretty much from the beginning." Bo bit off a chunk of her sandwich. "It truly is a rewarding profession, and _really interesting_. I think child psych is really where it's at for me. There's something more..." she paused "authentic about children. They are more emotionally raw than adults are. For a while I was working on the hospital's adolescent psych service, but I transitioned to private practice a couple of years ago. Now I see mostly middle-aged people going through divorces or midlife crises. I don't know if the switch to private practice was ultimately the right decision for me," she said quietly, looking down at her food, "but it seemed like it at the time."

Lauren understood that feeling all too well. There had been times in her adult life where she felt like she was at a crossroads of sorts and she needed to commit, one way or the other, no matter how it turned out. She didn't want to say that they were _regrets_ necessarily, but they still left her wondering how different her life would have been had she just chosen the other path any one of those times.

"If you've been in private practice for a while now, how exactly did you meet Thomas?" Lauren asked before she could stop herself. Lauren pinched the bridge of her nose and winced slightly, wishing she could club herself in the face for bringing him up and spoiling the nice lunch she was having. Why did she do this? It wasn't like she didn't just hear this _exact story_ from him a mere week ago. She was such a glutton for punishment.

Bo set her sandwich back on the plate and dusted the crumbs off on the napkin folded across her lap. "Well," Bo drew out, taking a sip of water, "we originally met - oh gosh - almost a year ago. I had just moved here and had taken over the position at the clinic from Dr. Meuller who retired, and I was invited to present on the diagnosis of mental health disorders in children to the med students at the university. Thomas was there... mmm... I can't even remember why he was there, exactly." Bo gazed out the cafeteria windows looking at something - or nothing, Lauren couldn't tell. "Thomas came down to the podium afterward to introduce himself and ask a few questions. I remember him being..." her brow furrowed slightly, "charming... and very handsome."

Bo continued, "A couple of months later, completely out of the blue, I received an email from him asking for some of the references from my lecture. Eventually the emails turned into phone calls and, as the weeks went by, the phone calls led to dinners, and... well... here we are," she shrugged her shoulders.

It wasn't quite the romantic telling that Lauren had gotten from Thomas, and something about that fact made her just the tiniest bit hopeful. Still wishing she hadn't asked the question in the first place, Lauren opted for another topic change - weekend plans!

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask, are you gonna join us this weekend for our usual get-together?" Lauren asked, trying not to sound as desperately optimistic as she felt. Lauren noticed Kenzi's eyes dart up from the text message she was sending at the mention of a social outing.

"I was planning to, if you guys don't mind me crashing the party again."

"Party crasher? Unlikely. You are _way_ more entertaining than any of those other dorks. Thank god you've joined the group, is all I can say," Lauren said, giving Bo a wink.

Bo's face broke out in a smile that showed off her dimple. "Done. I'm there," she confirmed with a nod of the head. "Wait wait wait," she said, waving her hand back and forth, "what's the plan this time? 'Cause I think I overheard Thomas mention something the other night about scrapping another evening at the old watering hole and trying something a bit more..." she tapped her chin, looking contemplative for a second, "_athletic_, I think he said."

"Oh boy," Lauren rolled her eyes. "Please tell me we're not giving broomball another try. The last time we tried that I spent the whole day with my ass on the ice, and whenever Emma ran past with the ball, she'd hit me with her broom. _In the head_. It was embarrassing," Lauren mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "And cold."

"No, no. I don't think it was broomball. Geez, I can't remember. Whatever it is, I'm sure you can handle it. I get the impression that you do most things well." Bo's compliment was punctuated with a gentle squeeze to Lauren's knee, causing yet another wave of pink to start creeping up Lauren's cheeks all the way to the tip of her ears.

"Eh hmmmmm," Kenzi cleared her throat conspicuously, forcing the pair out of whatever little moment they were having. Bo must have immediately known what Kenzi was after because the next thing Lauren knew, Bo was giving her a pleading look and tilting her head toward Kenzie in a gesture that was screaming _'please invite her, pretty-please!_' Knowing full well she could never say no to Bo, she asked Kenzie if she'd like to join them this weekend on their 'athletic adventure' in the most genuine tone she could muster.

Kenzi's face lit up like a Christmas tree and she immediately started in on trying to guess what they would be doing, and what she should wear, and imagining what their friends would be like. Lauren and Bo, with matching looks of amusement, sat back in their chairs and resumed eating while Kenzi chattered on in the background.

After Lauren's lunch with Bo and Kenzi, she returned to the lab to find her least favorite person waiting at her desk.

"Dr Lewis, I heard some news today," Henry said with a flat tone that matched his usual lack of facial expression.

"And?" Lauren asked, not really interested in having this conversation last any longer than it absolutely needed to.

"The decision regarding our grant application will be announced at the end of the week."

"Well it will certainly be nice to know one way or the other so that we can move forward with our research plans," Lauren responded, already bored with this conversation. But apparently he wasn't done yet, since he hadn't moved from his spot. "Is there something else you need to speak with me about, Dr Newman? I have a lot of work to get done this afternoon." She really wanted him to go away.

"I wanted to let you know that, just in case things don't pan out, I've heard a few other labs are looking for extra people. I'd be happy to provide you with their contact information," he offered with a smugness Lauren found infuriating. How dare Henry imply that insufficient funding would assuredly mean that _Lauren_ would be the one left looking for work. _Jerk_. Maybe the funding _would_ fall through in the end, but she could only hope that Henry would be the one getting the boot. God knows the guy could stand to be brought down a peg.

"I don't think that will be necessary," Lauren said through gritted teeth. "If that's all, Dr Newman, I really do have things that require my attention." Lauren stood very still - back straight, head high.

Henry, maintaining that conceited look Lauren wished she could slap off his face for him, gave a curt nod and retreated to whatever rock he originally crawled out from under.

_Uuuuggghh_, Lauren visibly deflated. She couldn't handle this kind of drama at work. Slumping down onto her stool, she swiveled herself around toward her desk and methodically started in on her work.

A few hours had passed and Lauren was exhausted; her neck and back were stiff and her eyes were so blurry from staring through her microscope for most of that time that she could hardly tell what she was looking at anymore. She had just started to move away from the offending instrument when she felt a gentle pressure at the small of her back. She took in a slow breath, recognizing the familiar scent immediately and hoping beyond hope that the hand at her back was none other than...

"_Bo_," she said quietly, slowly turning her stool around to face her very welcome guest. She could feel Bo's hand slide across her back and drop away once Lauren was facing her.

"Lauren, hi," Bo responded just as quietly with the most beautiful smile gracing her features. Lauren couldn't help but return the gesture, her cheeks pinking with delight. "I didn't want to scare you. You seemed pretty into... whatever it is... that you're... umm... in... to," she finished, in an uncharacteristically awkward way.

"I was actually just finishing up. These," Lauren gestured vaguely to her stack of slides, "have been giving me a run for my money today." She rubbed her right temple firmly, letting out a sigh. "I think I'm going to call it a day." Suddenly realizing that Bo was _here_, in _her_ lab for the first time, she sat up a bit straighter. "Is everything okay? What are you doing up here?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually, I came to ask if you'd like a ride home tonight. Your apartment is on my way, and the weather is getting pretty bad."

Lauren could not even believe how cute Bo was being right now - her head tilted down just a bit, the long dark curls of her hair falling in front of her shoulders and softening the edges of her face, letting Lauren see just a hint of her insecurity. Looking past Bo to the windows that had been at Lauren's back all afternoon, she finally realized how hard it was snowing.

"Wow, has it been doing that all afternoon?"

Bo turned toward the windows as well, "Sure has. I know you usually walk and I'd hate for you to have to go out in that tonight. So," Bo trailed off.

"A ride would be wonderful," Lauren agreed, trying not to let too much of her enthusiasm show. After all, Bo was just offering her a 4-minute car ride, it wasn't like she was asking her out on a date or anything. "Just let me put the rest of these slides away and grab my jacket. Would you..." Lauren paused, starting to feel a bit self-conscious. "Maybe I could quick show you around, and... mmm... introduce you to some of my colleagues?" Lauren finished quickly. _For goodness sake, Lauren, be cool._

"Absolutely!" Bo beamed, seemingly delighted with the idea. "After you."

Quickly running into the break room and switching out her lab coat for her jacket, Lauren joined Bo back out in the lab and began showing her around. Lauren was especially proud of some of the pieces of equipment the lab had procured since Lauren had started working there and she made sure to spend a few extra moments showing Bo the bells and whistles. To Bo's credit, she 'oooh'-ed and 'aaaahh'-ed at all the right times and seemed more-or-less engaged in whatever tidbit Lauren was sharing with her, even though she was certain Bo couldn't care less about half of it. Lauren didn't think it was possible to adore this woman any more than she already did until she began introducing her to some of her friends in the lab. Even the most reserved of her colleagues appeared excited by Bo's presence and the interest she took in their work. Bo chatted easily with each of them for a few moments before moving on to the next area, drawing a bit more attention as she went along. By the end, she had a handful of people all standing around discussing who-even-knows-what. It was remarkable! Lauren just stood back, taking it all in, and feeling this enormous and inexplicable sense of pride - this amazing woman was with _her. _Not 'with'-with, but 'friends'-with. Friends_. Right_.

"Bo," she called out, not able to stand the direction her mind was heading any longer, "I hate to interrupt, but we should really get going. The longer we wait, the worse your drive will be."

The two women said their final goodbyes to Lauren's colleagues and headed down to the underground parking garage. The walk to Bo's car was a quiet affair. As Bo drove the car out of the structure, they were immediately engulfed in a blanket of white - it was like being inside a snow globe. Bo and Lauren spent the short drive in relative silence, Bo concentrating on navigating the slippery, snow-packed streets and Lauren just enjoying the weather from the safety and comfort of a warm vehicle.

Arriving at Lauren's building perhaps a bit too quickly for Lauren's liking, the two new friends turned to each other and simultaneously began speaking their goodbyes. Bo chuckled lightly and gestured for Lauren to go ahead.

"Thank you for the ride, I really appreciate that you didn't leave me there to drag myself through this, albeit _lovely_, snowstorm. My feet are especially thankful since I forgot - _again_ - to wear my boots to work. So," Lauren said, leaning toward Bo, "thank you. And just so you know, you are going to be the talk of the lab after today." That earned Lauren a raised eyebrow and a lopsided smile from Bo, which Lauren found ridiculously endearing.

"And why do you say that?"

"Seriously, did you not see these people I work with? Their 15 minutes with you was more social interaction than they've had all month! I'm going to get major points for being your friend," Lauren clapped her hands together excitedly.

"Ha! Well I do what I can," Bo replied. "Hey Lauren, there's something I've been meaning to say." Bo's tone was a bit more serious than Lauren had expected and she instantly stilled, searching Bo's face for any clue as to where this conversation may be headed.

"I, uh..." Bo started, sounding surprisingly nervous. "These last couple of weeks have been so great. You know," she continued, staring down at her hands folded tightly in her lap, "ever since I started my practice, Kenzi has been my only real friend at work. But now, I get to see _you_ each day, and have lunch dates, and I find myself actually looking forward to going to work. And you've been so great with Kenzi, who I know is a bit much to take in. And... I..."

Lauren was becoming a bit anxious. This wasn't the confident, eloquent woman she was use to dealing with. And was it just her, or was the car getting a bit too warm? Maybe she should roll down the window... or take her scarf off... or...

"It's just that I get this... feeling..." Bo sighed loudly, turning herself toward Lauren as best as she could in the small space. "Sorry, I'm usually much better at... well... speaking," Bo apologized weakly.

"Yeah, I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for your clients right about now," Lauren joked, trying to break through a bit of the tension.

"Are you gay?"

'_Surprised_' would not begin to describe what Lauren was feeling at that moment. "I'm sorry, _what_?" Lauren managed to choke out with a sufficient amount of confusion in her voice. Things were taking a serious turn for the worse_. Bail! Bail!_ - is all Lauren's mind could come up with.

Bo reached out to squeeze Lauren's knee reassuringly. "It's just..." she stopped, eyes locking onto Lauren's, slowly registering the distress Lauren was in. " You know what, never mind," she said, shaking her head. " It doesn't matter, and I shouldn't have asked. "

Bo's hand remained on Lauren's knee and, for the first time, Bo's touch felt uncomfortable, almost painful - like it was scorching her flesh. Lauren could barely breathe.

Finally taking in a sharp breath - "I should go," Lauren finally responded, hastily shoving open the passenger-side door. And just like that, she was thrown into the elements - the wind whipping at her hair, the snow cold against her flushed cheeks. Turning to close the door, she saw Bo's expression of confusion and hurt. She hated leaving her like this, but the insecurity and lack of control she felt was overwhelming her. Doing her best to soften the blow, Lauren bent down in the doorway of the car and thanked Bo once again for the ride home, promising that she would see her around work tomorrow. And with that, she closed the car door firmly and all but sprinted to the safety of her apartment building.


	7. Chapter 7

It's a really short chapter, but I thought it was kinda funny... hope you enjoy. More to come, I swear!

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CHAPTER 7

"You're girlfriend thinks I'm gay."

Lauren could hear him chuckling under his breath over the phone.

"Not funny, Thomas. Why would she think that?"

"Oh come on, Lauren. It really is funny, and seriously, what difference does it make?" he continued to laugh, "I mean, sure, in all the years we've known each other you've had - what - 3 or 4 boyfriends? Minus me, of course. "

"You can stop talking now, Thomas."

"And really, how into those guys were you? Honestly? I'm not even sure I could tell you any of their names..."

"I get it," Lauren interjected again, trying to end this useless conversation.

"... And now that you mention it, Angie did say something about you giving off some 'vibe'. "

_Oh goodness._

"Oh! Oh! And Emma did have a little crush on you way back in the day!" Thomas continued enthusiastically, enjoying Lauren's suffering way too much to be healthy.

"Oh my god, Thomas! _Shut it!"_ Lauren shrilled, completely mortified by the turn in the conversation.

"And let's face it - look at me - I'm a perfect specimen. If you didn't bat an eyelash at _this_? Well then, need I say more?" Thomas finished. Lauren could practically hear the smirk he likely had plastered on his face.

Feeling a sudden wave of sadness and guilt over the reference to their lame attempt at romance, Lauren started to apologize.

"Don't do that, Lauren," Thomas responded gently, his earlier joviality now gone. "It's done with and you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. Water under the bridge."

"Right. Well you must have told Bo about _some_ of this?" Lauren asked, still trying to find out what was behind Bo's sudden interest in her sexual orientation.

"Well sure. I mean, she knows that you and I dated briefly back in the day and obviously you've come up in other conversations. We've been friends for over a decade now. It's hard to tell a story without your name popping up. But Lauren," Thomas paused, letting the silence stretch between them, "I don't tell Bo everything, especially when it comes to you. It wouldn't do much for our relationship, nor is it conducive to the whole 'moving on' thing that I'm trying to do here," he finished.

"Right, I understand Thomas," Lauren said, dropping onto the couch in a heap and yanking the afghan over her, trying to burry herself in the pile of fabric. "I guess I was just thrown by her... well, her frankness. I'm only use to that kind of thing from you and the girls. It just took me by surprise, I think," Lauren confessed.

"What difference does it make, anyway? Bo doesn't care who you're attracted to. Maybe she was just asking to make conversation."

"_Pfffft_, that's a weird conversation starter. Anyway, you're probably right."

"So! Enough of that! Let's skip to the good stuff. Saturday!" Tom shifted the conversation effortlessly, his earlier enthusiasm instantly returning.

"Lay it on me, Boss," Lauren giggled, happy to move on. She sat up just a bit on the couch, searching her apartment for the glass of wine she had poured for herself a moment ago.

"Wagner's Lanes."

"No! No no no. Thomas, you promised no more bowling!" Lauren sunk back to her previous position, giving up on her lost drink. "You know how bad I am. It's degrading," she huffed.

"Whatever. You're a fine bowler. Plus, the real reason we're going is 'cause - well - for one, the bowling alley has an awesome bar and grill that serves the most amazing Philly cheese steaks. And! They have the best beers on tap. We are going to have a blast!" Tom finished.

"Yeah yeah, blast, whatever," Lauren mumbled. It was then that Lauren heard some noise on Tom's end of the line; a door opened and closed and she could hear Bo's voice calling Tom's name.

"Hey honey," Tom said in a muffled tone. Lauren guessed he had placed his hand over the mouthpiece. Lauren heard footsteps and Tom's voice again, "Hey Bo, she says she's not gay."

Lauren wanted to die. She could hear Bo in the background, " _She_? 'She', wh-... _ohhhhh_," more shuffling noises, then "Hey there Lauren," Bo's voice came on the line.

"Uhhh, hey Bo," Lauren replied, trying to sound as normal as she possibly could.

"Sorry about earlier. And... umm... good to know," she finished, handing the phone back to Tom.

Lauren could hear Bo's muffled voice again, asking Tom if he started dinner. Lauren assumed he had nodded his response since she couldn't hear anything. Then Tom was back on the phone again, "So that's cleared up."

"Great, Tom. Just great."

"Whatever. Back to Saturday. Wagner's is clear across town, so Emma and Ang will pick you up at your place around noon and schlep your good lookin' rear end over to the bowling alley. Bo, Kenzi and I will meet you there. This is gonna be kickin'!"

"Yup, 'kickin'."

"All right, gotta run. I'm making dinner for my lady tonight. Later, gator!" Tom said, just before hanging up.

Lauren just stared at her phone in confusion. Well that was... unexpected. Dragging herself off the couch, she finally managed to locate her abandoned drink and shuffled to the fridge, scrounging up some leftover pasta and a ready-made salad. Good enough.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey Gang! Thank you again for all of the great responses to my story. I love the feedback, and people's thoughts on where the story is going and how the characters are responding to the different situations has really helped guide some of these later chapters and the overall arc of this story. So thank you!

Now, I know this was a rough week for Bo/Lauren. **SPOILER ALERT** (for those not in the US/CANADA), their breakup - and I'm calling it that because there is no such thing as being 'on a break' - was so incredibly sad... but... I also really respect what the writers are doing with Lauren's character. She is incredibly strong in her own way, and she deserves love and happiness and respect. And though I absolutely love the character of Bo, the writers have made a very complicated mess out of her various sexual and romantic (or often-times unromantic) relationships. And I believe that it really did justice to Lauren's true character to have her step up and be honest about wanting more from Bo than she is able to give her. That was a beautiful scene - heartbreaking, but beautiful. So on a lighter note, here's some more frivolous Doccubus A/U (cause who can handle all the real crap that is going on with them in the world of the show?)

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CHAPTER 8

The next few days were gray and drab. The temperature wasn't too bad, but everything had such a somber appearance, it really did nothing for Lauren's already glum mood. Things in the lab were same-old, same-old, though she could feel the tension grow as Friday drew closer while everyone anxiously awaited their fate. Henry had laid off with his snarly comments and general annoying attitude, which Lauren was grateful for. At the very least, it left her with more energy to focus on her work.

As for Bo, Lauren had only seen her once since their car ride a few days back, and only in passing. Lauren wasn't intentionally avoiding Bo, but she wasn't going out of her way to see her either.

By 4pm on Friday, Lauren was a complete wreck. As the day wore on, she had progressively found it harder and harder to focus on the tasks at hand - something that was rarely an issue for her. As her mind began to drift again, it took a few moments to realize she was squeezing the liquid from the dropper all over her table instead of into the test tube where she had _meant_ for it to go. _Real smooth, _she chastised herself, looking over her shoulder quickly to see if anyone had noticed her clumsiness. In her defense, today was an important day in her life, as well as many of her lab colleagues. Whatever decision was made regarding their grant application would determine if she even had a job to come back to on Monday. The thought was almost too much for her. These last few weeks had been a series of forays into uncharted territory for her and, with her rational, practical self temporarily on hiatus, she wasn't sure her emotional self could handle anything else right now. Thankfully the lab was her happy place and when her brain was in overdrive, the constant hum of the lab equipment and the exhaust vents soothed her - _that is one geeky and expensive white noise machine_, Lauren thought with a chuckle.

Looking around the room at the people she had spent the past year working alongside, she realized that she wasn't truly friends with any of them. Though the lab had a great atmosphere about it and, for the most part, she got along well with everyone, she hadn't made any effort to get to know anyone outside of business hours. In fact, she rarely made new friends in general - something she attributed to her somewhat reserved and introverted nature. But Lauren's fast friendship with Bo made her take a second look at the dozens of people right here who she saw day-in and day-out, who were all intelligent and hard-working and obviously had similar career-related interests. It would be so easy to strike up a conversation over the centrifuge or ask if anyone wanted to join her in the cafeteria for lunch or...

Lauren sighed, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table. Maybe that was the point. Bo wasn't just an 'anyone', and Lauren suspected that it wouldn't have mattered where, when or how they met, the outcome would have been the same.

Realizing that she wasn't going to get anything more accomplished today, Lauren reluctantly started wrapping up what she was doing, putting her equipment away and saving the notes on her laptop. After writing a quick reminder to herself for Monday - something about needing to order more slide prep medium - she made her way to the break room to put her boots on and grab her jacket, just like every other day. What _wasn't_ like every other day was the sudden knocking on the break room door. Not entirely sure what she should do since no one knocks on the break room door - _ever _- she opted for standard etiquette. "Come in...?" she responded as more of a question than an invitation.

The door opened slowly revealing a very uncertain looking Bo.

Lauren stood up a bit straighter. "Bo," she said in a surprised tone.

Bo stepped further into the room, closing the door behind her. Lauren started to get that unsettling feeling again, much like the other night in Bo's car.

"Is everything okay?" Lauren asked with concern.

"Yeah. I mean," Bo continued, stepping closer to Lauren, "yes. Everything is fine. One of your, uh, colleagues told me you had come in here. And I actually wanted to see if everything was okay with _you_." Bo waited patiently for Lauren to form a response.

Lauren swallowed. "Sure. Absolutely. Everything is good." Was it terrible that, in spite of the intensely awkward situation they were knee-deep in, Lauren still couldn't help but notice how stunning Bo looked today? Lauren was a sucker for Bo's silk blouses; the way the soft fabric draped over her chest. _Ugh, eyes up, Lauren, eyes up._ When her eyes met Bo's again, she could see one corner of Bo's mouth turn up in what looked like a smirk. _Busted_.

"I was just about to head out, do you want to walk with me? I could even give you a ride if you'd like," Bo offered, looking hopeful.

"You know," Lauren started, stalling for only a second before deciding that she really needed to get past all of the weird residual feelings she had left over from their conversation the other day, "I would love that." Lauren was just about to retrieve her boots from under the bench - she wouldn't be needing them now - when there came another knock on the break room door. _What was going _on _today_? Karla peeked her head around the door. Seeing Lauren there, she called over, "Oh hey, Lauren, I was hoping you were still around. There's something I need to show you really quick before you head out. Do you have a second?"

"I... uhhh... well, I..." Lauren stuttered, looking between Karla and Bo. Lauren _really_ wanted to go with Bo in that moment, and she was sure that her pained expression made that abundantly clear, but duty called. She sighed quietly, "Sure thing, Karla. I'll be right out." _So close_, Lauren thought glumly.

As the door closed behind Karla, the two girls found themselves alone once again. "You don't have to stick around, Bo. I'd hate to hold you up, I'm sure you've had a long day," Lauren said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her lab coat entirely out of habit.

"Don't even worry about it. I'm happy to wait," Bo replied with an easy grin.

Lauren nodded and headed out into the lab, Bo following behind her. Her steps began to falter when she noticed all of her colleagues huddled together at one of the work tables. "What's going on, guys?" Lauren asked, her brow furrowed and her hands forcing their way deeper into her coat pockets.

Karla stepped forward from the group, holding up a letter. "We did it!"

"We did it?" Lauren repeated in confusion.

"They've awarded us the grant money!" Karla clarified, beaming.

Lauren's eyes widened, her hands coming out of her pockets to clasp together in front of her face. "This is amazing," she said so quietly she wasn't sure anyone actually heard her. She was just so... _shocked_... and happy! The grant application process had been a long and tedious affair; everyone had worked so hard and had waited a long time for the news. Lauren was so excited she felt like her whole body was vibrating. Before she knew it, she found herself standing amongst her colleagues, everyone talking excitedly, shaking hands and patting each other on the backs. This was such an enormous accomplishment for all of them. Suddenly remembering that Bo was there with her, she looked over to see Bo standing off to one side, smiling at the scene unfolding in front of her. "Bo," she called over to her, successfully drawing her gaze to her. Bo's smile widened as Lauren closed the distance between them in a few, easy strides. Acting on impulse, Lauren reached out, pulling Bo in a tight embrace. Bo melted into her instantly, her arms sliding around Lauren's waist to her back and pulling her closer. Bo's hair tickled the side of her face. She smelled _amazing_.

Bo turned her head to bring her lips closer to Lauren's ear. "Congratulations, Lauren. No one is more deserving," she breathed out softly, her words meant for Lauren, and Lauren alone. She felt a shiver run down her spine from Bo's warm breath on her ear. Lauren could feel Bo pull back a bit from their embrace.

"What do you say? Should we grab a drink? Celebrate?" Bo asked, waggling her eyebrows in a silly gesture.

Lauren laughed lightly, the excitement still coursing through her body, "That sounds great. Let's get out of here." Lauren ran back to the break room as fast as she could, gathered up her things and headed back out to Bo.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey Guys! As always, thank you all for the responses to my story. I know things have been slow-going with updates. A few of the middle chapters became kind of dialogue-heavy and I realized that I wasn't doing as good of a job telling the story as I had wanted to, so I've been trying to flesh things out a bit more in this, and subsequent, chapters. So hang in there, folks!

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CHAPTER 9

Lauren practically ran back out to Bo after retrieving her belongings from the lab's break room. Bo was right where Lauren had left her and as she drew nearer, her steps slowed and she took a few extra seconds to enjoy how happy and content she felt in this moment - Lauren had succeeded in securing the future of their research, her colleagues were all going to get to continue doing the work that they all loved and had dedicated an enormous amount of time and energy toward, and Lauren was able to share it all with the most beautiful woman in the world. She felt _incredible_.

Bo's back was to her and she couldn't help but reach out to run her hand along Bo's shoulder down the length of her arm, drawing Bo's attention to her.

"Hey there," Bo smiled warmly, turning around to face her. "Ready when you are."

After a short ride, the two women found themselves outside "the restaurant". It was tradition, after all, for all significant things in the three friends' lives to be celebrated, mourned and processed at this establishment. The official name of the restaurant was Ye Old Irish Tavern, but it felt so ridiculous to say, that Lauren and the gang had refused to refer to it as such. Instead, they just agreed after their first time there that it would hence-forth be referred to as "the restaurant".

Lauren led the way to the main entrance of the establishment, holding the door open to let Bo walk through. Still feeling a bit bold, she caught Bo as she passed through the doorway, linking arms with her as they continued inside. Their presence in the restaurant did not go unnoticed by the other patrons. A number of its occupants - men and women alike - turned to eye the two women up as they spoke with the host about securing a table. Lauren, having noticed the looks they were earning before Bo did, leaned in close to share the news.

"Don't look now, but I'm pretty sure we've been found out," Lauren said with a bit of a giggle. She was already enjoying the evening and she was still completely sober.

Bo tilted her head to one side and did her best to discretely scan the crowd. "I believe you are correct, Dr. Lewis. It appears we have some admirers." Bo turned her attention back to Lauren, locking gazes for a moment as a mischievous look stole over her features.

"Oh no. No no no," Lauren shook her head, emphatically. "I don't know what you're thinking, but you can just stop right there."

"You have absolutely no idea what I'm thinking, but I doubt you'd be protesting this much if you actually knew," Bo chuckled, squeezing Lauren's hand where it still remained curled around Bo's upper arm. Lauren blushed and looked away for a moment, trying to hide the grin that was threatening to take over her face.

"Well that remains to be seen. Now, how about we go grab a couple of drinks over at the bar to get this celebration started," Lauren suggested.

"Don't' forget, it's on me tonight. You're my guest of honor, so no trying to be chivalrous and paying the tab before I have the chance," Bo warned, surprising Lauren with her preemptive strike on what was most definitely Lauren's original plan.

"Yeah yeah, fine, whatever," she grumbled jokingly, earning her another of Bo's amazing smiles. _That dimple was going to be the death of her_.

Still arm-in-arm, they worked their way over to the bar. Once there, Bo pulled her arm from Lauren's grasp, leaving Lauren with an irrational sense of loss. But before Lauren could reflect on it any more, Bo's hand had found a new spot on the small of Lauren's back. She could barely breathe; her whole body felt like liquid goo. Bo, not having any idea how this was affecting her, turned to ask her what she wanted to drink. Lauren just stared at her mouth, not registering a single sound coming from it. All she could feel was Bo's hand; all she could hear was the loud whooshing sound of her own blood pumping in her ears.

"Lauren?" Bo asked, her forehead creasing in concern. "Lauren, are you all right?" Her hand pressed more firmly against Lauren's back, not really helping the problem at all.

"Uhhh..." Lauren started. "Mmm... yup... yup, I'm good," she nodded, still staring at Bo's mouth. "Totally fine, just, uh," she stuttered, noticing that mischievous look from earlier return to Bo's face. Lauren shook her head slightly, trying to physically encourage what few brain cells she apparently had left to rub together and come up with something more than the incoherent gobbledygook that was currently spilling out of her mouth. "I think it just hit me what happened back at the lab," Lauren finally managed to say. Bo's expression immediately softened and she gave Lauren a gentle smile.

"This is an amazing accomplishment, Lauren. For all of you," she added. "I looked into the grant that you had applied for and it is insanely competitive."

Lauren was shocked and, she had to admit, extremely flattered and touched that Bo had taken such an interest in her. Lauren tilted her head slightly, eyeing Bo up just a bit, trying to get a better read on her.

Bo's hand left it's spot on Lauren's back and she shifted the tiniest bit away from Lauren, suddenly looking nervous under Lauren's watchful gaze. "Not that I was, you know," it was Bo's turn to stumble over her words, "checking you out or anything." Bo's eyes widened in surprise at her own words. "No! I mean, I... uh... I was just... umm... curious. About your work!" she quickly amended. Bo looked away, pretending to check out the beer selection.

"Mmm hmmm..." Lauren just murmured, suddenly feeling much more confident than she had a moment ago. _How the tables have turned_, she thought, enjoying this side of Bo. Her insecurity was just another dimension of Bo's personality that Lauren found herself attracted to. Someone who was generally quite confident and self-assured, now suddenly awkward and uncertain - it was endearing, to say the least, and it made Lauren feel better about her own social foibles.

"I'm taking that as a compliment," Lauren said, letting Bo off the hook. "And as for that drink, I'll take a pale ale. I think it's a beer kind of night."

"Agreed," she nodded, flagging down the bartender and ordering up two beers.

The two women remained at the bar for another 10 minutes, chatting easily about anything that came to mind. Lauren asked Bo more about her family and where she had lived prior to moving to the city and taking her current job. She loved how animated and engaging Bo was when she talked. Even though this was the first time she was hearing these stories about Bo's past, she felt like she had known Bo forever, and that thought warmed her entire body and made her chest feel tight for a moment. _God, what this woman was doing to her_.

Bo had asked similar questions of Lauren in return, and just as Lauren was about to launch into a story about her two younger brothers and their childhood adventures in camping, a strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist from behind and squeezed the breath right out of her. To say she was startled was an understatement, but she soon realized that this bear hug was not coming from some scary drunk person, but from Emma who was freakishly strong for a girl.

Lauren swiveled around as best she could in the tight confines of the bar, and gave her best friend a proper greeting. "Emma! What are you doing here?!" Lauren asked, still clearly confused.

"Bo invited me," she smiled, though she had a distinctly furrowed brow, indicating that she was also a bit confused.

Chiming in, Bo explained that she had called Thomas back at the lab while Lauren was in the break room getting her stuff. She had told him that they were going to go out for drinks after work and had asked him to call Angie and Emma for her to pass on the message. Bo hadn't explained to anyone what the gathering was about, but thought Lauren would want them to be here tonight. Unfortunately, Thomas had gotten hung up at the hospital and wasn't going to make it, and Angie already had plans with some other friends, so that left Emma. Lauren felt a strange mixture of happiness that Bo had thought to include her best friends in celebrating the occasion, but also somewhat disappointed that she wasn't going to get this time, just the two of them. But the happiness was definitely outweighing the other feelings.

"Thank you for coming, Emma," Lauren offered, sincerely.

"So," Emma rubbed her hands together, excitedly, "what's the occasion? And how long do I need to stand here before you put a drink in my hand?" she added, cheekily.

It wasn't long after Emma had secured herself a drink that the host came back to lead them to their table. The three women made quick work of the dinner menu, practically ordering themselves up a feast, and dove right into the main event.

Bo locked eyes with Lauren and began to raise her beer up. "I'd like to make a toast to my newest, and most amazing friend, Lauren. She has something she'd love to share with you, Emma," Bo said, shifting her gaze to her right where Emma was seated.

"Ooooh-kaaay," Emma dragged out, still not sure what this evening was all about, but raising her beer up as well. _When in Rome_.

"Thank you, Bo," Lauren smiled shyly, hating to be put on the spot like this but excited to share her news. "You know all that grumbling I've been doing lately about our lab's grant application?" Lauren asked Emma.

"Do you even have to ask?" Emma replied.

"They chose us," Lauren's announcement came out in a whisper, as if she didn't quite believe it herself.

"Aaaaaccccckkkkk," Emma squealed, leaping out of her chair and practically sitting in Lauren's lap in an effort to get close enough to hug the life out of her best friend. "I am so happy for you! That's amazing, and I totally knew you were gonna get it! Congratulations!" Emma continued, excitedly.

Lauren, trying to avoid being smothered by Emma's enthusiastic embrace, caught Bo's eye. The two shared a warm smile and Bo lifted her beer once more in a silent toast to Lauren's success. Lauren's eyes became shiny as tears formed. She was so thankful to be here with her two wonderful friends - one old, one new. She would have loved for Thomas and Angie to be with them as well, but it didn't lessen the joy of the evening.

After extricating herself from Emma's hold, the three brought their beer bottles together with a series of clinks and then tipped them back to take a long swig.

"Now that you've won a million dollars, what will you do?" Emma asked in her best talkshow host voice, putting a fake microphone to Lauren's mouth.

"I'm going to Disney World!" Lauren laughed, playing along.

The three girls spent the rest of the evening telling jokes, sharing stories and having a wonderful time. The food was delicious and they all surprised themselves at how much of it they ate. The beer bottles started to pile up on the table and it wasn't long before Lauren realized that she was beyond buzzed. Though she hated for such a nice evening to come to an end, she knew she needed to get home soon, and besides, they were all going to see each other tomorrow for their bowling extravaganza that Thomas so thoughtfully planned.

Lauren called Bo's name a few times, not meaning to butt into the conversation Emma and Bo were engaged in. But when that failed, she found herself reaching across the table to grab Bo's hand where it rested next to her drink. Keeping on with the conversation she was having with Emma, Bo merely turned her hand palm-up to grasp Lauren's, unconsciously running her thumb over the back of Lauren's hand. Lauren sighed softly to herself, basking in the physical contact and letting the alcohol-induced warmth and fuzziness wash over her. _What was she going to ask Bo? Oh yeah_.

"Bo?" Lauren tried again.

"Yeah, sweetie," Bo asked, the casual use of the term caught Lauren off-guard. Though she'd be lying if she said it bothered her, even in her slightly drunk state, Lauren didn't miss the raised eyebrow it earned her from Emma.

"Bo, I think I need to head home now. The beer is getting to my head and I don't want to stumble into a snow bank, not to be seen again until the spring thaw," Lauren chuckled at her own joke.

Bo squeezed her hand and agreed that maybe they should call it a night. Emma offered to split the bill with Bo, partly because they had consumed a small fortune's-worth of food and drink, but also as a congratulatory gesture. Lauren thanked Emma for joining them and, after giving Lauren and Bo both a parting hug, headed home.

It was now just the two of them once again.

"So," Lauren said with a smile.

"So," Bo repeated, clasping her hands in front of her.

"I was thinking..." Lauren drew out.

"Oh were you?"

_Cheeky_. "Yes, well, I was thinking that if _I'm_ drunk, then _you're _probably drunk. I really don't think you should drive home tonight. What do you say to maybe..." Lauren paused, starting to doubt this plan.

"Yes?" Bo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You could just come back to my place," Lauren said as quickly as possible.

"Sold. Now grab your jacket and let's get out of here before I fall over," Bo laughed, not nearly as surprised by Lauren's suggested as Lauren herself was.

Exiting the way they had entered - arms linked and the gaze of many-a-patron following their path to the front of the restaurant - the two women began the cold, but thankfully short walk back to Lauren's apartment.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

The two women made it safely back to Lauren's apartment, stumbling about trying to remove their shoes as they entered. Having expended an unusual amount of energy on that activity, both women plopped back rather unceremoniously against the back of Lauren's living room couch.

"So," Bo began, "since I've never been to your abode before, how do we want to handle the sleeping arrangements tonight?"

"Well, I have two bedrooms. Unfortunately, the guest room doesn't have a bed in it."

"Well that's rather inhospitable of you," Bo teased, playfully nudging Lauren's side with her elbow.

"I don't usually have house guests, so I've sort of let my science-y stuff take over the back room. Sorry," Lauren replied, feeling sheepish. "I guess this means..."

"I'll take the couch," they both said, simultaneously.

"Absolutely not," Lauren jumped in before Bo could say anything to the contrary. "You are a guest in my home and I can not allow you to sleep on my lumpy..."

"Lauren," Bo cut her off, coming to stand in front of her. Running her fingers along the lapels of Lauren's coat that she didn't even realize she still had on, she continued, "I will not kick you out of your own bed. So you have two choices, Dr Lewis." Bo looked down at Lauren, trying to maintain an authoritative air.

"And what would those be, Dr Dennis," Lauren asked with a smirk, more than happy to play along.

"Either I take my chances with this lovely lookin' fella," she said, tilting her head toward the couch in question, "or we share your bed. Please tell me it's king-size," she added, hopefully.

"It is," Lauren said with an affirmative nod of the head.

"Sweet." Bo gave an enthusiastic fist pump.

Looking back over her shoulder at the couch, she realized that the decision was already made. Sighing, she turned back to Bo. Enjoying their physical proximity, Lauren took the opportunity to place her hands at Bo's hips, giving a slight squeeze.

"Fine, you win," she conceded, using her strategically placed hands to push Bo backward and remove herself from her position against the couch. She pulled off her coat and threw it over the very spot she had been occupying a moment before, Bo's coat following suit. Lauren felt giddy from the evening they had had. _Oh yeah,_ _and the alcohol_, she thought, chuckling softly to herself.

"What's so funny?" Bo asked, catching Lauren in her little moment.

"I'm just... happy," Lauren sighed, contentedly.

"And rightfully so," Bo nodded in agreement, losing her balance for just a second from the extra movement. "Yikes, maybe I did drink a bit more than I realized. I think I'm gonna go get this makeup off my face and call it a night. Where... um..." Bo looked around the apartment in confusion, "where's the bathroom?"

"Oh right! Sorry, sorry," Lauren apologized, "you can use the bathroom upstairs. I'll find some pajamas for you to wear while you're in there."

"Works for me." Bo shuffled past Lauren and headed up the stairs.

Lauren watched her friend as she went, enjoying the view and wondering briefly if this was the best idea in the world. Maybe she should have asked Emma to take Bo home with her... or called Thomas to come pick her up... or... well, too late now. She was certain they would both fall asleep pretty quickly, and tomorrow morning they could go back to the restaurant and pick up Bo's car and have her back to her own place before anyone was the wiser. No big deal. Right? Mmmm... right.

Always the logical one, she grabbed them both a glass of water, knowing they would need the hydration, and followed Bo's path up the stairs to find her something to wear. Was Bo a nightgown kind of girl? Pajama pants? Lauren giggled a bit, feeling like she was playing the 'boxers or briefs' game, but with sleepwear. After setting the water glasses down on her dresser, she retrieved her favorite sleep shorts and a soft cotton v-neck shirt out of her top drawer and threw them on her bed. _Those should work_.

As she grabbed some flannel pajama pants and another cotton shirt for herself, Bo emerged from the bathroom looking freshly scrubbed and even more beautiful without her makeup on, if that were even possible.

"Hey," Lauren greeted her softly. "I hope those will work for tonight," she said, gesturing toward the clothes on the bed.

"I'm not particular," Bo replied, offering a warm smile before heading over to pick up the pile of clothes. Before Lauren could even offer her privacy to change, Bo had already begun removing her blouse. Lauren, for her part, could do nothing but stare as she undid each button, revealing a simple, black bra and the smooth skin of her abdomen. Lauren let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, accidentally drawing Bo's attention to her little staring problem.

"Aren't you going to get changed, too," Bo asked innocently, though Lauren could see a glint in her eye that was decidedly anything _but_ innocent.

"Sh... sure," Lauren stuttered. Turning her back to Bo, she quickly exchanged her work clothes for her pajamas, which was no small feat considering that the alcohol was really messing around with her coordination. Three attempts to get her foot into the right pant leg and a backwards shirt later, she was finally dressed and more than ready for bed. After picking up her discarded work clothes, she wandered over to the bed to retrieve Bo's before heading to the closet to hang them up. She didn't want to give herself away, but she had nearly fainted when she caught the site of Bo's bare legs in _her_ pajama shorts. Lauren never looked that good in pajamas. I mean, they're _pajamas_! But to her credit, she had managed to walk past without giving her an obvious once-over.

"Are you always like this?" Bo asked in a tone that made her feel like the question was coming more from Dr. Dennis, Psychiatrist, than Bo, her friend.

"Like how?" Lauren asked, still focused on the task at hand.

There was a brief pause, as if Bo had expected her to know what she was talking about.

"Careful," Bo clarified, her voice suddenly sounding much closer. Lauren's back was still to Bo, but she could feel her right behind her. _So close_.

"Mmmmm," she replied, noncommittally, hanging up the last of their clothes and moving away from both the closet and Bo. In her current state, she wasn't sure she could have this kind of discussion without saying something she'd regret. "I, uh..." Lauren started, looking down at her hands, "I'm awfully tired, Bo. Maybe we should get to bed."

Lauren looked warily between Bo and the bed, thinking of the millions of reasons why this was a bad idea, but not being able to stop herself.

Both girls pulled back the covers simultaneously, positioning themselves as far away from one-another as was possible. Lauren felt so uncomfortable, though she was sure it would have been a million times worse sober.

Lauren remained flat on her back, looking up at the ceiling and willing herself to fall asleep already. She was so tired and she thought for sure the drinks she'd had earlier in the evening would have caused her to pass out as soon as her head hit the pillow. But no. Her bedmate didn't seem to be any closer to sleep, either. After a few minutes of silence, Bo sighed and rolled over on her side to face Lauren.

"If it's going to make you uncomfortable for us to share the bed, I'm still happy to go sleep on the couch," Bo asked softly, concern lacing her words and bringing a frown to Lauren's face.

Lauren turned to face Bo, suddenly feeling so foolish. "No, this is fine," she only slightly lied. "I feel like my mind is still going a mile-a-minute. I live a relatively uneventful life. I think it was a bit too much action for one day," she smiled at Bo, trying to reassure her that this was all okay.

Bo, bridging the gap between them, brought her hand to Lauren's face, gently cupping her cheek and forcing a sigh from Lauren.

"I know I said it earlier, but no one deserves to have been awarded that grant more than you. I know we've only been friends for a short time, but I think I know you well enough to know that much is true," Bo finished, staring into Lauren's eyes with such sincerity. "You're an amazing woman, Lauren, though I'm sure I'm not the first to say it."

Bo's smile was absolutely breath-taking, making Lauren's stomach flutter and her cheeks grow warm. Lauren felt tears starting to well up, embarrassed by how transparent she was around Bo. She blinked a few times, trying to force away the overwhelming feelings she was having, but to no avail. A tear tracked its way down Lauren's cheek, Bo's thumb close behind, gently wiping away the wetness. Her thumb continued to stroke her cheek and Lauren could see Bo's gaze concentrated on her lips.

"Bo," Lauren said in a whisper, not really trusting herself to speak.

"Hmmmm?"

"What I said earlier... about not being gay..." As soon as the words left her mouth, Lauren was instantly annoyed with herself for bringing it up again.

"I know," Bo responded, effectively stopping Lauren from the rambling that she knew was coming. "But," Bo continued, her eyes still trained on Lauren's lips, "there _is_ an attraction."

The matter-of-fact way that Bo said those words were like a wave crashing over her - overwhelming and scary... but also invigorating and _exciting_. Lauren's eyes slipped closed, trying to give herself some space to take it all in. Her hand, moving of its own accord, reached out to slide down Bo's arm, coming to rest over the top of Bo's hand where it laid pressed against her cheek. Taking in a deep breath, she found herself admitting something she didn't think she ever would to the one person it would mean something to - "_Yes_," she breathed out.

"We've worked in the same building for a year. I keep thinking, what if we had met sooner..."

"Bo, don't," Lauren whispered, her eyes opening, an ache starting to form in her chest. She really should have drank that glass of water, she thought as her head started to pound. "_Please_," she almost begged.

Bo breathed heavily, her eyes starting to droop a bit, the alcohol finally catching up with her. "I'm sorry, you're right," she said, trying to remove her hand from Lauren's. But Lauren wasn't willing to let go just yet, clinging to this last connection between them before they had to go back to just being friends. With her hand held firmly in place and lacking the energy to do anything about it, Bo allowed her thumb to resume its gentle stroking along the soft skin of Lauren's cheek until she stilled altogether, sleep taking over. Lauren gave Bo's hand a final squeeze, feeling so very tired herself. Sliding Bo's hand down to her lips, she placed a gentle kiss to Bo's palm before moving their joined hands to rest between them on the bed and let sleep claim her.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey Everybody! Sorry for the incredible delay in getting another chapter written and posted. Busy busy busy around here. ** SPOILER ALERT for those not following the current season ** I'm so sad about how things are going for Doccubus. What an unfortunate turn of events for them. I remain optimistic that their relationship will survive, since it technically has for three years now, in various incarnations. The thing that really gets to me is that Lauren, ever the mystery, is being pegged as a bad guy. I think that if anyone truly knew her, they wouldn't believe it for one second. So it's disappointing that so many of her 'friends' are questioning her and placing blame. Anyway, enough of that sad business.

Thank you again to all of you wonderful fanfic readers out there who have taken the time to follow my story and write such wonderful and motivating comments. It has really helped to keep me motivated to continue the story, so thank you SOOOOO MUUUUCH!

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CHAPTER 11

Lauren had thankfully woken up partway through the night and, in a surprising moment of lucidity, made her way to the bathroom to down a couple aspirin and a big glass of water. Grabbing the same cocktail for her guest, she padded quietly over to the bed where Bo lay buried under her winter comforter, only her dark curls peeking out. Torn between wanting to let her rest undisturbed, and being the good doctor and preventing her from having a nasty hangover, she chose the latter.

"Bo, honey..." Lauren spoke softly, pulling back on the blanket covering Bo's head. "I need you to take some medicine for me."

"Mmmmmm," Bo grumbled, trying to pull the blanket back up.

"You only have to wake up for a second, come on now," Lauren tried again, pulling the covers down one more time and helping to pull Bo into a sitting position as best she could with a full glass of water and some pills in her hands.

"Ugh, what time is it?" Bo asked, her voice deep and raspy from sleep.

"It's late, but you need to take this or you'll feel worse in the morning."

"Mmm hmmm," came her response through the glass of water she was chugging down. Handing the glass back to Lauren, she flopped back down in bed and rolled on her side to face Lauren.

Lauren had just set Bo's empty glass on the side table when a warm hand grabbed hold of her arm and started to pull her gently closer to the edge of the bed.

"What are you doing, Bo?" Lauren asked a bit warily.

"Stop trying to take care of me," Bo replied, pulling a bit more forcefully on her arm, "and come back to bed before you fall over."

Tensing a bit and trying to pull back her arm from Bo's surprisingly firm grasp, Lauren only succeeded in throwing herself off balance - not a particularly hard thing to do given her current state - and found herself dropping unceremoniously onto the bed next to Bo. She didn't miss the glint of victory in Bo's eye.

Not feeling terribly comfortable perched on the edge of the bed next to Bo's pajama-clad form, Bo sensed her distress and scooted toward the middle of the bed to give Lauren a bit more space. Pulling back the covers beside Bo, Lauren shuffled around just a bit, trying to make herself comfortable before pulling the comforter back over herself. Lauren and Bo were now much closer to each other than they had been earlier in the night. She could feel the heat radiating off of Bo's body. Bo had decided to remain on her side facing Lauren, and her chest was practically pressed along Lauren's arm. How did Bo think she was going to be able to get any sleep with them lying in this position? But before Lauren could get too far down that rabbit hole, Bo surprised her yet again when her hand came up to Lauren's hair and began stroking her fingers softly through the golden locks. Lauren's eyes drifted closed on their own accord and she let out another sigh. "Mmmmm," Lauren hummed, loving the feeling of Bo's fingers in her hair.

"Shhhhh, go to sleep," Bo whispered, soothingly. It was like she understood the struggle Lauren was going through, wanting to be this close to Bo but also being afraid to do anything that might confuse or complicate their friendship even more. Allowing herself to just be in the moment, to not over-think it like she did everything else in her life, Lauren felt herself sink deeper into the bed as the muscles in her body finally relaxed and sleep claimed her once again.

Lauren could feel herself slowly waking up, her senses coming back to her one at a time. Though her eyes were closed, she could tell that the room was filled with sunlight by the warm red glow behind her eyelids. She felt wonderful and was pleasantly surprised to find that her midnight hangover remedy had truly done its job. As her mind slowly cleared from the fog of sleep, she became acutely aware of a hand not belonging to herself, draped lightly across her abdomen and a warm body pressed snugly against her side. Her heart began to pound so hard that she was certain Bo would hear it and wake up. Lauren finally pried her eyes open to fully assess the situation. She definitely knew how they had gotten themselves into this position, but she had absolutely no clue how to get herself out of it without waking her sleeping, snoring, _drooling_ friend in the process. As much as she hated to admit it, Lauren had, on many occasions, dreamt of the day when she would wake up to the site of this beautiful woman in her bed. But this isn't how it was suppose to happen, and Lauren didn't want to put herself in such a vulnerable position so soon after their sort-of-talk last night.

Lauren continued to mull over their situation, her hand unconsciously finding its way to Bo's back where it stroked gently along its contours. Bo was in no way a brawny woman, but the physician in Lauren immediately noted the sinewy muscle under her hand and wondered idly if Bo worked out. As her hand moved lower down Bo's back, she almost groaned out loud when her fingertips brushed along the exposed skin just above the waistline of Bo's pajamas where her shirt had ridden up. She continued to run her hand along the warm, soft skin of Bo's back until she felt Bo take a deep breath in followed by a long stream of moist air across the skin of her chest where Bo's head rested. Maybe a v-neck shirt was not the best idea after all. Or maybe it was the _best _idea... hard to say. Bo started to stretch a bit, the muscles of her back flexed under Lauren's hand and sent a shiver down her spine. The arm draped across Lauren's mid-section began to move, Bo's hand dragging along her abdomen, almost tickling her in the process. Lauren began to squirm a bit, drawing Bo's attention.

"Mmmm," Bo moaned in that raspy morning voice Lauren was coming to love. "How long have you been awake?" she asked, her hand continuing to rake across Lauren's abdomen as she looked up at Lauren with her beautiful, dark brown eyes. Lauren couldn't believe how close their faces were. Another inch and their lips would... _no. Don't go there_.

"Not long," Lauren smiled in response. "I was so comfortable, I couldn't convince myself to get up quite yet," she admitted softly, "and I didn't want to disturb you."

Lauren couldn't believe that they were still lying there, snuggled in each other's arms, in Lauren's _bed_. There was a difference between being close friends and being... well... whatever it was that they were.

Clearing her throat self-consciously, Lauren started to shift a bit, trying to indicate to Bo that she was ready to get up.

Sitting up to let Lauren out from under her, Bo's gaze following Lauren intently as she sat at the edge of bed, running a hand through her hair and giving herself a moment to reassure herself that she was, in fact, sans hang-over before attempting to stand up.

"Lauren," Bo said softly, running her hand along Lauren's back from where she sat behind her on the bed. "I... uh..."

"Thank you," Lauren interrupted, cutting Bo off before she could make some excuse about last night - it was a mistake, she had too much to drink and she hadn't meant to say what she did, etc. Lauren wanted to remember those moments untainted, ringing with a sincerity that she knew had existed, rather than a guilt-induced lie about it being the product of some drunken rambling.

Bo's hand stilled on her back. "You're welcome."

"Well!" Lauren exclaimed, slapping the palms of her hands on her legs and pushing herself up, off the bed. "I think some breakfast is in order," she said with a smile, trying to avoid looking directly at Bo. "How about I make us some eggs and toast while you hop on in the shower?"

Bo dropped her head down with a chuckle, looking relieved to move past the tense moment. "That sounds amazing," she looked back up at Lauren, eyes sparkling.

"I'll, uh... I'll call the girls to see if they can bring by some clothes for you. I don't think you'll have time to head home before bowling and I don't really have any pants that will fit you. Extra towels are under the sink."

Bo shuffled off the bed and headed toward the bathroom, glancing back only briefly before closing the door behind her.

_Whoa,_ Lauren thought, shaking her head a bit and staring up at the ceiling. _This is going to be one interesting day_.

Lauren quickly placed a phone call to Angie, asking her for some extra clothes for Bo, while stealthily avoiding giving her any details on the events of the previous night. Angie promised Emma would be by with the clothes in the next 10 minutes and that she would bring the car by her apartment in about an hour to pick them up for their afternoon outing. After hanging up with Angie, she made her way down to the kitchen, flipping on the television on her way through the living room so she could catch the weekend weather report while she cooked.

She was in the middle of dishing out the freshly scrambled eggs onto matching white plates when she heard a harsh knock from her front door, followed by the distinct voice of her good friend telling her to _'hurry her ass up and answer the door already'_. Giving a little chuckle, Lauren quickly placed the pan of eggs back onto the stovetop, trying to get to the door as quickly as possible before Emma drew anymore unwanted attention from her neighbors. She was just making her way through the living room when Bo descended the stairs, effectively intercepting Lauren's trajectory.

"I'll get it, Lauren", Bo said over her shoulder as she reached for the door handle.

"No, Bo, I've..." Too late. It was like it was all happening in slow motion - Bo yanked the door open, dressed in nothing but a white bath towel that - and not that Lauren was complaining or anything - barely covered her... umm... 'assets'. Emma did her best to hide her surprise, but the rapid blinking and the stuttered "Uh, h-h-hi, Bo," was a dead giveaway that this was not at all what she was expecting.

Lauren couldn't take it and, like any self-respecting individual would do in a similar situation, buried her head in her hands and begged for death to come swiftly. Peering out between the fingers covering her eyes, Lauren saw Bo reach out to take the bag of clothes from Emma while Emma stood like an idiot in the doorway, one hand jammed so far into her pants pocket it was remarkable that her pants stayed on. After the compulsory thank-yous and you're-welcomes, Emma practically bolted down the hallway, shouting as she went that they would be by shortly with the car.

As Bo closed the apartment door, Lauren was finally able to pry her hands away from her face. Bo, seemingly oblivious to what had just transpired, sauntered back up the stairs to try on her new outfit.

The next time Bo came down the stairs, she was fully dressed - not necessarily in her own clothes, but at least _in clothes_. Lauren's gaze followed Bo as she descended the final few steps, admiring how well her borrowed clothes fit her. The dark blue jeans were a tad long, but still incredibly flattering on her. And though it would likely not have been something Bo would have in her own wardrobe, the soft cotton baseball T looked... well... adorable, for lack of a better word. Lauren couldn't help but smile as she imagined Bo as a 20-year-old college student.

Bo sauntered over to the kitchen, leaning forward on the counter where Lauren had left their plates of food, hot and ready to eat. "Breakfast looks amazing, thank you," Bo said sincerely, mirroring the warm smile that Lauren still had plastered to her face.

"Mmm, it was nothing," Lauren offered back, modestly.

"Is there something wrong with the outfit? Should I look for something else to wear?" Bo asked suddenly with a frown, looking down at her clothes and pulling at the fabric of her shirt in a self-conscious gesture.

"God, no!" Lauren said a bit loudly, reaching out to pull Bo's hand away. She hadn't realized she was staring. "You look great," she amended shyly. Lauren released Bo's hand and grabbed both of their plates, leading Bo over to the table so they could eat. "What would you like to drink? Orange juice, water, coffee...?"

"Coffee, _please_," Bo responded emphatically. "I need some liquid energy for whatever Tom has in store for us today."

"You and me, both," Lauren chuckled. She grabbed two large mugs of coffee and returned to the table.

The two women ate breakfast in relative silence, the sound of the television keeping the whole affair from being awkwardly quiet. As they both sat, sipping at their coffee, it occurred to Lauren that Tom had planned to drive Bo and Kenzi to the bowling alley today, which wasn't going to work out well in light of the fact that Bo was now at Lauren's place.

"Ugh, Kenzi!" Bo exclaimed suddenly, as if reading Lauren's mind.

"No worries," Lauren assured her, having already come up with a suitable solution. "We can get all five of us in Angie's car. Kenzi is the size of a small child, " Lauren remarked, earning her a smile from Bo, "and you're not that much bigger, so we'll be just fine."

"All right, I'll call Tom and let him know the change of plans before he shows up to an empty apartment." With that decided, Bo got up from the table, grabbing both of their dirty dishes and taking them over to the sink to rinse them off before placing them in the dishwasher. Lauren was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable Bo was in her home. Getting up from the table herself, she walked over to Bo who was in the middle of arranging the dishes in the dishwasher. There was never a single moment since meeting Bo when she didn't feel the constant desire - _ache_, in fact - to be near her; to see her, talk to her, touch her. Unable to stop herself, Lauren placed a hand gently on Bo's back, causing a slight hitch in Bo's movements.

"You're a guest, Bo, you don't have to do that," Lauren said quietly.

Bo looked briefly up at Lauren with a soft smile before returning to the task at hand.

Lauren just shook her head, letting her hand drop back to her side. She might have lost that battle, but she could hardly muster the energy to care because the warm fuzzy feeling she had when she watched Bo putter around her kitchen made Lauren feel that if anyone had won anything, it was her.

"I should go hop in the shower myself," Lauren said, running a hand through the tangles in her long blond hair. "Make yourself at home," she added somewhat redundantly, as she was certain Bo already felt at home.

Lauren came traipsing down the stairs 20 minutes later, showered and dressed - as a time saver, she had left her hair straight today instead of in its usual gentle curls, and had dressed in her favorite pair of light blue jeans and a long-sleeve v-neck cotton shirt. As if on cue, her cell phone vibrated against her butt cheek. Pulling it out of her pants pocket, she saw the message from Emma letting her know they were out front of the building waiting for them.

"Hey Bo," Lauren called over to her. Bo had found her way to the couch and was currently enjoying some Saturday morning cartoons while finishing off another cup of coffee.

"Mmmm, yeah?" she called back, sounding surprisingly engrossed in whatever she was watching.

"The girls are out front."

"On it." With that, Bo flipped off the television, quickly returning to the kitchen to place her mug in the dishwasher, and joined Lauren by the front door where Lauren stood holding out Bo's jacket for her.

"My my, aren't we quite the gentlewoman," Bo teased, turning around to allow Lauren to help her into her coat.

"What can I say, my momma done trained me well," Lauren drawled in a fake southern accent. Bo laughed lightly, bringing a smile to Lauren's face.

"That she did," Bo agreed, as they left the apartment.

Emma and Angie waved at the girls as they approached the car. It was never hard to spot their vehicle since it was a disgustingly cheerful sunshine yellow color. Angie had acquired the small four-door from her dad a few years back when his cataracts prevented him from being able to drive, and the girls were willing to look past the conspicuous color because they were just so thankful to have a car - which Lauren was, by proxy, also grateful for. After settling themselves in the back seat and had completed the initial round of greetings, they were on their way. Bo had called Thomas while Lauren was getting dressed to let him know the new carpool arrangements, so for the first part of the trip, she was busy giving Angie directions to Kenzi's place. Lauren was content just to sit back and gaze out the window. They were definitely heading to a part of town she wasn't familiar with and, to be honest, she wasn't sure she _wanted_ to be familiar with. _'What is the story with this girl?'_ Lauren wondered to herself as she looked around the neighborhood. Bo continued to provide instructions as Angie carefully made her way through street after street of run-down houses, dogs barking from behind chain-link fences, cars parked on what was left of front lawns. After a couple more turns, they pulled up in front of a two-story house that, thankfully, looked a little less sketchy than most of the other houses they had passed. Angie honked the horn twice and out ran Kenzi in her usual state of dress, hair in ponytails, and sporting 3-inch above-the-knee black leather boots. It wasn't exactly what Lauren envisioned when she heard the word 'bowling'... but hey, what did she know? Maybe that's standard bowling attire now. She _had _been out of the game for a while.

As Kenzi approached, Bo scooted herself over to the middle of the back seat to make room for the extra passenger. Lauren was a bit surprised when Bo closed the gap completely between them, leaving their sides pressed tightly against one another's. Kenzi was a tiny person and Bo and Lauren hardly took up much space themselves. It wasn't really necessary to make that much room, and based on the look she was getting from Angie who was watching them in the rearview mirror with a raised eyebrow, she didn't think so either. But her discomfort was soon interrupted by Kenzi's appearance in the vehicle.

"What's up, docs?" Kenzi greeted, cheerfully. After a quick set of introductions, they set out for their final destination. The final 10 minutes of their car ride was filled with lively discussion from all five of the women. Though Kenzi should have, on all accounts, been the odd-man out of the group, she had such an easy-going, infectious personality and her quick wit and quirky sayings had everyone laughing. Lauren was having a wonderful time and the real event hadn't even started yet. Before she knew it, Angie was pulling the car into the parking lot of Wagner's Lanes.


	12. Chapter 12, Part 1

Hey Doccubus Gang! I know we are in for a looooooonnnnngggg stretch with no LG on TV until the new season, so I'll try not to drag my heels so much on updating this fic. I'm not having writer's block necessarily, but the plot intricacies are making it a bit more challenging to keep the story flowing at a quick pace. Sorry :( Anyway! Consider this part 1 of 2, so give me a day or so to get the other part of the chapter up. Happy Sunday, and thanks again for sticking with me! Team Lauren Forever!

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CHAPTER 12, Part 1

Wagner's was surprisingly busy - or at least it was surprising to Lauren who didn't even realize bowling was still something people did. Lauren herself was a horrendous bowler, but she had to admit that she always ended up having a good time in spite of getting the lowest scores. The bowling alley Tom had chosen was definitely one of the nicer one's they'd been to over the years. They even had the fancy electronic scoreboards that played little cartoons whenever someone got a strike or whatever those things were that meant you actually knocked a pin down. The five women made their way to the front counter to secure some stylish bowling shoes and pay for a few games. Sandwiched between a group of chatty grey-haired women wearing matching bowling shirts and a family of four, were their lanes.

Once they were settled in their designated area and had switched out their own shoes for the mismatched, mildly smelly shoes supplied by the bowling alley, they were ready to get this party started. Bo had made a quick call to Thomas when they first arrived to find out where he was, and had relayed his message that he was only another 5-10 minutes away. As the girls waited for Tom to arrive, they took their time picking out just the right bowling balls for the big event. Angie and Emma had theirs picked out almost immediately and, after placing their balls on the ball return, wandered off to the bar to open their tab and get a pitcher of beer to start them off. Lauren, not really sure that it made a difference what ball she ultimately chose, opted for a swirly green ball that kind of reminded her of snot. Oddly enough, when she stuck her fingers in the holes for the first time to test it out, that's exactly what it felt like. _Perfect_. After placing hers on the return as well, she wandered over to join Bo and Kenzi in their search.

"How goes it, ladies?" Lauren asked, letting out a light chuckle when she noticed the two blue balls Kenzi had securely cradled in her arms. "Trying to pick out just the right weapon of destruction, I see," she added with a smirk.

"Balls are important," Kenzi mumbled, returning the balls to the rack and continuing her search in earnest.

"I wouldn't say that. I think it's more about technique than equipment," Bo stated, giving Lauren a wink.

Lauren's face flushed bright red and she could barely meet Bo's eyes. "I... uh... I'm," she gestured vaguely toward the direction Emma and Angie walked in, "gonna go find the girls. Good luck with your... uh... equipment," she stuttered as she high-tailed it toward the bar.

Looking around for the girls, she finally spotted them at the far end of the bar, beers in-hand, engaged in an intense discussion about who-ever-knows-what. Lauren stealthily wove her way in and out of small groups of fellow bowlers, finally coming up alongside her friends. "I'm gonna need one of those, STAT," Lauren stated, leaning over the bar to grab a clean glass from the barkeep's rack. After pouring herself a glass of beer from the pitcher on the counter, Lauren took a long swig and surveyed the group, not missing the generally disapproving look she was getting from the barkeep. Lauren gave him an apologetic smile and a shrug of the shoulders before returning to her drink.

"What's gotten into you?" Angie asked, giving Lauren a firm poke to the abdomen and causing her to spill a tiny bit of her drink.

"Nothing, just..." Lauren looked up at her friends and plastered the most sincere fake smile to her face, "Nothing."

"_Ooooo-kay_. Well if you're finished with your little bout of nothing, then help us carry these drinks back to our seats," Angie ordered, tilting her head toward the two pitchers of beer lined up on the bar.

Lauren did as she was told, falling in to line behind the girls as they led the way out of the crowded bar.

Tom had already arrived by the time the girls made it back with the drinks. As they approached the group, Lauren was greeted with the sight of Tom and Bo wrapped in a warm embrace, sharing a kiss that was, thankfully, family-friendly. But the image of them together was still a shock to her system. Mere minutes before, her and Bo had been shamelessly flirting after having spent a night together in Lauren's bed. Granted, it wasn't nearly as epic as it sounded, but it still _meant_ something... at least it did to Lauren. How could Bo just go back to being the loving girlfriend? Like flipping a switch. No matter how much logic and rational thought Lauren tried to apply to their situation - they had been drunk, Bo didn't actually _say_ she had feelings for her, maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see - her insides were screaming with jealousy. She was not use to this kind of visceral reaction to someone. It was almost as if she were in...

"Lauren!" Tom called over to her, breaking her out of her emotional vortex of doom.

Lauren blinked rapidly. Running on autopilot, she smiled and approached Thomas, allowing him to wrap her in a firm hug. Once out of his embrace, she finally managed to pull herself together. "Hey old man," she greeted him with a playful punch to his shoulder. "Long time, no see."

"You just miss beating me up," he joked back, rubbing his arm where Lauren's fist had just been. "I hear a congratulations is in order, Doctor Lewis." Tom's eyes shone with pride as everyone grabbed a glass of beer and raised them in toast to Lauren.

Lauren was so touched that she had nothing more to say but a most sincere, "Thank you." As everyone dove into their drinks, Thomas and Emma appeared at her side. Going in for the kill, they sandwiched her in a loving, but _tight_ embrace, congratulating her once again on an amazing win. Aside from feeling like she was suffocating, she was insanely happy in that moment.

"All right, all right, enough of the Lauren Love Fest, kids. It's time to get down to business," Angie broke in, always one to cut to the chase. "Teams."

"Right," Emma chimed in. "We're playing three games. After each one, the losing team buys a round of drinks."

That earned Emma some scattered applause and general murmurs of agreement.

"_And,_" she interrupted their excited chatter, "each team swaps a player to keep things fair."

More nodding from the group.

"Since I've made the rules, I'm going to assign the teams for the first round."

"_Not_ a democracy, I see," Kenzi quipped, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Okay, since Lauren is the guest of honor, I'm stealing her for the first round," Emma declared, grabbing Lauren around the waist and pulling her tightly to her side. Lauren laughed, swinging an arm around Emma's shoulder and giving her a squeeze in return. "And..." she paused to consider her final choice, "Tom. We'll see if the three of us can avoid embarrassing ourselves in front of our guests," she chuckled.

Tom joined his friends, giving them a round of enthusiastic high-fives. Bo, Angie and Kenzi shuffled over to their designated chairs on the other lane, leaning in conspiratorially to discuss strategy. Lauren's team didn't really bother with that, especially since none of them had enough skill to actually employ said strategy. They would just wing it.

"Okay Lauren," Emma gave her a firm push by the butt-cheeks toward the ball return, "you're up! Go get 'em, tiger!" she sniggered.

Lauren gave her a playful glare from over her shoulder as she nervously grabbed her green ball. _Please don't suck, please don't suck_, Lauren chanted to herself. As she approached her lane, trying her best to take a professional-looking stance, she saw a familiar form from the corner of her eye. Bo. _Oh boy_, Lauren thought, closing her eyes for a second.

"Um, Lauren," Bo's voice floated in the background, "I don't think you're going to be able to bowl with your eyes closed," she finished with a laugh, pulling back her bowling ball and sending it barreling down the lane. Strike.

_Oh. Shit_.

Bo turned around, dusting her hands off on her jeans and giving Lauren a cheeky wink before heading back to her team to celebrate.

Trying to emulate Bo's earlier move, Lauren pulled back her ball, took a few steps toward the lane and let it fly. Her ball, moving considerably slower than Bo's, bounced a few times on the wood before making a b-line toward the right gutter. _Not good_. She could hear Tom and Emma cheering her on from behind her but avoided making eye contact as waited by the ball return. Kenzi was up next for the other team and, after pulling her ball off the return and throwing some ghetto street sign to Bo, waltzed her way toward the lane and sent the ball flying toward the pins. Strike.

_Double shit_.

After testing out the other gutter, Lauren made her way back to her seat beside Emma. She wasn't sure how excited she was at the prospect of bowling three games, especially if her every turn was going to end this way. Lauren gave a sigh and slumped further down in her chair.

"Hey now," Emma patted her knee, reassuringly, "you did great." Emma gave her a big smile and turned back to watch Thomas and Angie take their turns.

Thankfully, Lauren managed to hit some pins down on each of her subsequent turns, making her feel less awkward and generally more relaxed. As the first game came to an end, it was no surprise that they lost - miserably. But in good sportsman-like fashion, both teams congratulated each other for a job well-done, gave a round of high-fives to the victors, and sent Tom off to buy the ladies their beers.


	13. Chapter 12, Part 2

Ugh, finally part 2 of this chapter! The FF site was down last night when I went to post, so it was all a bit anticlimactic on my end. Oh well. So here's part 2, and hopefully I won't take too long to bring chapter 13 together. Be back soon!

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CHAPTER 12, Part 2

While Tom waited patiently over at the bar for their beer pitchers to be refilled per the losing team agreement, the girls remained back at their respective lanes, chatting and teasing one another good-naturedly.

"Kenzi, I had no idea you were such a good bowler," Lauren stated, giving Kenzi's shoulder a squeeze, "especially since the bowling ball weighs more than you do."

"Do not underestimate The Kenz. She may be the size of a Polly Pocket, but she is as kick-ass as they come," Bo defended, wrapping her arm around Kenzi's shoulders and poking her belly with her free hand. Kenzi swatted at Bo, looking mildly embarrassed by the compliment.

A few minutes later Tom emerged from the bar with full pitchers of beer - though they didn't stay full for long. Tom made quick work of refilling everyone's drink, and after setting the empty pitchers down and taking up his own glass, he took a moment to carefully size up the group. "Okay," Tom began, taking a long drink before continuing, "I'm making the first draft pick for this round. Bo, you're with me," he declared with a grin and a waggle of the eyebrows.

Bo just laughed as she sauntered over to Thomas. "You just couldn't stand losing to me, could ya big boy?" she joked, patting him on the chest as she walked past him to take her seat. Tom gave a little shrug and returned to his beer.

Lauren, for her part, was absolutely giddy at the prospect of being on the same team as Bo. But her joy was short-lived as Angie made a bid for the opposing team, claiming Lauren as their third teammate. Lauren tried not to look too disappointed, but she couldn't help but drag her heels a bit as she moved over to sit between Angie and Kenzi.

Kenzi, noticing Lauren's rather subdued manner, leaned close to Lauren, "Don't worry, chica. She's all ours for the last game."

"Who's all ours?" Lauren asked distractedly.

"Your girl, Bo," she clarified, patting Lauren lightly on the leg.

They were halfway through their second game and Lauren was up next for her team. She was in the process of going to get her old buddy, snot ball, from the ball return when Kenzi sidled up next to her, draping an arm casually over her shoulder.

"Okay, Lo. Game face." Kenzi grabbed Lauren's ball from the return and handed it to her. Lauren watched Kenzi anxiously. "Be the ball," Kenzi imparted in her most serious tone.

Lauren rolled her eyes and let out a soft chuckle. "You're such a dork."

"Takes one to know one, Doc. Now," she began again, placing her hands on Lauren's shoulders and pulling her closer. "Don't over-think this. Just throw that shit down there and knock those pins on their assess," she finished, giving Lauren's shoulders a firm pat before swinging her around to face her doom. "Make me proud!" she exclaimed, shoving Lauren towards the lane.

Lauren took a deep breath and was about to make her approach when she spotted Bo walking up to the lane next to her.

"You up for a bit of friendly competition?" Bo asked with a raised eyebrow and mischievous smile.

Lauren could only nod.

"All right. On the count of three, then. One... two..."

Both women's eyes were trained on their respective pins, foreheads creased in concentration, muscles tight with anticipation.

"Three."

Lauren swung her ball back and made her approach. Three steps and she released the ball, sending it down the lane with a force she didn't even know she was capable of. Within seconds there was a loud cracking sound and suddenly all of the pins were lying down. Did she just...?

"Strike!" Kenzi shouted, jumping up and down.

In a flash, Bo and Kenzi plowed into her from each side, squishing her in the most enthusiastic hug she had ever experienced. The two women continued to jump around, pulling Lauren along with them.

"Hey hey hey," Tom's voice could barely be heard over the sound of Kenzi and Bo's shouts.

Lauren could feel Bo pulling away.

"Enough of that. There will be no fraternizing with the frenemies," Thomas chided playfully, pulling Bo back to their seats.

Angie, taking Tom's lead, was soon shooing Lauren and Kenzi off the platform as well. "Okay girls, out of the way," Angie stated, waving her arms at them. "Gotta keep the momentum going."

As Lauren took a seat beside Kenzi, she noticed Bo watching her from across the way with a goofy grin on her face. Lauren met her gaze shyly, still a bit ruffled from all the excitement. Even if she didn't knock a single pin down for the rest of the day - or ever again, which was a real possibility - Lauren didn't care, victory was hers. Perhaps a very _small_ victory, but a victory none-the-less.

A few turns later and the game had come to an end. Lauren was, yet again, on the losing team. She hated to think that she was the reason for it, but it seemed likely. Kenzi and Lauren nominated Angie to go grab the next round of drinks since, well, Kenzi didn't have any money and Lauren just didn't want to.

With fresh beers in-hand, it was time to swap teammates for the final game. Before anyone had a chance to make a suggestion, Kenzi jumped in. "Sorry everyone, but I'll just be takin' my bestie back now. I'm not so much a sharer," Kenzi shrugged somewhat apologetically, giving Bo's arm a tug. Bo's face lit up at Kenzi's request and, after giving Tom a quick peck on the cheek, allowed Kenzi to drag her back to where Lauren and Angie sat.

"Well if you can have your girl back, then I can have mine," Emma chimed in, wiggling her finger at Angie in a 'come-hither' gesture. "Oh! And before we begin, I forgot to mention, game 3 is 'winner takes all'. The losing team buys the winning team dinner next Friday. So don't suck," Emma warned, poking her finger at Thomas and Angie. Lauren offered a weak smile to her new teammates, feeling fairly certain of how this day was going to end.

To Bo and Kenzi's credit, they cheered and offered words of encouragement throughout the whole messy affair - turn after turn, gutter ball after gutter ball. They high-fived, they teased, they slapped assess and bumped chests. Kenzi had a way of bringing out the silly side of people - even Lauren, who wasn't even aware she _had_ a silly side. Just watching Bo and Kenzi together left Lauren with a perma-smile. How in the world Bo could understand half of the words that came out of Kenzi's mouth was a mystery, but it made their interactions all the more entertaining.

Before Lauren knew it, the game had come to an end. As the six friends looked up at the scoreboard, they were all shocked to realize that, for once, Lauren's team had won! After a round of congratulations to the victors, the gang decided to call it a night.


	14. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

The gang was exhausted leaving the bowling alley. Lauren could barely think about anything other than going home, putting her pajamas on and plopping down in front of the television for the rest of the evening. Upon reaching the parking lot, the six friends split in half - Kenzi and Bo with Thomas who had offered to drop Bo off at the pub to pick up her car that was still parked there from the night before, and Lauren with Emma and Angie.

The car ride was a fairly subdued affair, save for the sporadic small-talk. Lauren had found herself in the back seat again, which she was thankful for because it meant she could stretch out a bit. As she watched the city pass by her window, she reflected back on the last 24 hours and marveled at how much had happened in such a short period of time. Letting out a soft sigh, she rested her forehead against the cold glass of the car window.

"Should we talk about what I walked in on back at your apartment earlier today?" Emma asked, breaking the silence of the car and interrupting Lauren's daydreaming.

Lauren could feel a twinge of irritation pass over her. "I don't think so, no," she answered shortly.

"Well **_I_** want to talk about it," Angie chimed in, clearly just as curious as Emma about what had precipitated Lauren's phone call that morning.

"_Now_ you want to talk about it? Why? So that you can tell me I'm making a huge mistake? That I'm betraying Thomas? That I'm not _allowed_ to want something just because its messy or complicated or could hurt someone?" Lauren asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest protectively.

"Yes! All of those things!" Angie shot back, clearly not understanding why Lauren didn't see the logic in her own words. "You may think this is what you want, but you just - " she sighed in frustration, taking one hand off the steering wheel to run it through her hair. "You can't do this, Lauren. Whatever has or hasn't happened, it doesn't matter, it needs to stop before -"

"Before Tom gets hurt." Lauren interjected, letting the statement hang in the air. Lauren let out a mirthless laugh, the sound oddly harsh in the confines of the small vehicle. "Right," she said with a nod, as if confirming some long-held suspicion. "It doesn't matter, does it, that maybe **_I_** could get hurt? Or are his feelings more important than mine? The two of you have been so busy protecting _Tom's_ feelings and _Tom's_ best interests that you've never once asked how _I'm_ doing; how **_I_** feel." She could feel her emotions bubbling up, a lump forming in her throat and making her voice tight. "Aren't I your friend, too?" her voice broke on the last word, giving away how much the events of the past month had affected her... _hur_t her.

"Of course you are, Lauren," Emma assured her, turning as best as she could in her seat to face Lauren. "Of course we care about you - your feelings, your happiness. We just... We care about you _both_," she finished weakly, looking over at Angie in a silent plea for assistance.

Lauren steeled her resolve, wiping away a stray tear and sitting up straighter in her seat. "If that's true," she responded, her voice steady, "then you should have told me Tom was in love with me." A surprised look passed quickly over both Emma and Angie's faces. "For almost a decade this has been going on and no one said a word. And now? Now that I know," she looked at Emma, eyes still glassy with unshed tears, "it's this burden, this," she searched for the right word "_guilt_ that I carry, through no fault of my own. I will not be made to apologize for something I had no control over."

"We know it's not your fault, Lauren, but it's been so hard on him over the years," Emma tried to explain.

"So hard on _him_. Right," Lauren spat, her distress turning once again into frustration. "But it's not hard for _me_ to find out that my best friend has been in love with me for _years_. Just like it's not hard to find out that he's spent the last 5 months in a serious relationship with someone and never bothered to mention it - _you_ never bothered to mention it," she accused. "And it's _certainly _not hard to hear him tell me that he plans to marry this 'special someone' because... well... if he can't have me?" she let that final statement sit; wanting to share the weight of it with someone - _anyone_. "But hey," she continued, bitterly, "as long as _Tom's_ okay."

"Jesus, Lauren. We... I..." Emma stuttered, clearly uncomfortable.

"Just," Lauren slumped down in her seat and focused her attention out the window, "forget it."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Emma and Angie exchange a concerned look, Emma shrugging her shoulders in confusion before moving around in her seat to face forward once again. Lauren tried her best to keep it together, not wanting to spend the remainder of the car ride crying in the back seat. An eternity later - or at least what _felt_ like an eternity - they finally pulled up in front of Lauren's apartment building. Without so much as a 'thank you' or ' goodbye', Lauren hastily threw open the car door and scrambled out of the vehicle.

Lauren's apartment was her safe haven and never before had she needed the safety and comfort of the familiar surroundings more than she did tonight. As she walked through the front door, she quickly shed her jacket and shoes before flopping down on the couch, covering her face with one of the pillows. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted...

*knock knock knock*

Lauren groaned, throwing the pillow down and dragging herself off the couch. She was not in the mood for visitors. "Coming," she grumbled unenthusiastically as she shuffled slowly to the door.

Swinging the door open abruptly, she was shocked to find Bo standing on the other side.

"Umm..." Bo started, seeming oddly uncertain given that _she_ was the one that knocked on _Lauren's _door.

"Bo, what are you doing here?" she asked, the question coming out a bit more harshly than she had intended.

Bo balked a bit at Lauren's tone. "I'm sorry, maybe I should go," she said, turning to leave.

"No, don't," Lauren grabbed Bo's arm, effectively halting her retreat. "I was just surprised to see you is all. We just spent the last 24 hours together. Miss me already?" Lauren joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I know you just got home. I was just..." Bo trailed off, glancing at her hands briefly before shoving them into her pockets. "I was about to head home myself - Tom dropped me by the bar to get my car - and I realized that I was still wearing Emma's clothes." Bo's gaze met Lauren's, a soft smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Anyway, I thought maybe I should stop by quick and change back into my own clothes so Emma could have these back."

"You didn't need to go out of your way, I'm sure Emma wouldn't care if you held on to her clothes a few more days," Lauren responded, getting a feeling that this wasn't the real reason why Bo was standing at her front door right now.

"Well since I'm here, I might as well..." she glanced down at her outfit, then back up at Lauren, "get rid of these."

Lauren could barely maintain eye contact, her mind immediately going to an image of Bo slowly removing her clothes right there in her living room, piece by piece.

"Lauren?" Bo called her name. "You all right?" she asked, a knowing smirk on her face.

"Yeah," Lauren cleared her throat. "Just... uh... well, you know where to find your things," she finished, shifting to one side and opening the door a bit wider to allow Bo to move past her into the apartment. Lauren continued to lean on the door as she watched Bo climb the stairs to her bedroom, flashbacks of their morning together filling her head and bringing a smile to her face.

"It isn't polite to stare," Bo admonished with a soft chuckle, continuing her ascent.

_How does she _**do**_ that_? Lauren was torn between being impressed and mildly horrified that Bo knew she was watching her without even turning around to see for herself. Was Lauren that obvious? God, she hoped not. Swinging the door shut, she made her way to the kitchen to get herself a cold glass of water while she waited for Bo to return from upstairs.

But she didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, Bo was making her way back down to the living room, dressed in Friday's work clothes. After shaking off the intense feeling of deja vu, Lauren quickly threw back the rest of her water and - after placing the empty glass in the kitchen sink - slowly made her way over to Bo.

"How embarrassing, wearing the same clothes two days in a row. Tsk tsk, Miss Dennis, what would Kenzi think?" Lauren teased, discretely giving Bo a once-over, still in awe of how beautiful she was.

"Don't even joke about that," Bo pouted. "That girl is constantly giving me unsolicited advice on my wardrobe. I'm pretty sure her talents are wasted on me."

"Oh, I don't know," Lauren said, perching on the armrest of the couch while she watched Bo put her coat back on, "I'm no expert, but I'd say you have excellent taste."

A subtle pink tinge came to Bo's cheeks, letting Lauren know that her words were appreciated and giving her the little boost of confidence she needed to say the thing she has been dying to say all day - "Bo, you are..." she took a long breath in, "_stunning_."

Bo's gaze never faltered as she moved to stand in front of Lauren. "I could say the same about you," she replied.

"Bo, I..." Lauren broke away first, looking down at her lap, her brow furrowing in concentration.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Bo asked, her voice soft with concern. "The only time I see that look is when we're at work and you're contemplating the clinical significance of a missense mutation on chromosome something-or-another, and whether the resulting change in amino acid coding leads to some other whatchamacallit."

Lauren chuckled lightly at Bo's attempt at describing her work, her somber mood lifting just a bit. Not being able to help it, she pulled Bo close enough for their knees to bump, Lauren's hands resting at Bo's waist. "So you _do_ listen," she said, looking up at Bo with a smile.

"It's what I do," Bo joked, running her fingers through the hair that framed Lauren's face, brushing the stray locks behind her ear. Lauren couldn't get over how comfortable they were with each other. She had never let someone get this close to her so quickly, but then again, there were a lot of things involving Bo that fell outside her norm. Lauren let out a sigh, wishing she'd had more time to process her argument with Emma and Angie before seeing Bo again. The emotions were still so fresh that she was finding it difficult to look at Bo without feeling this overwhelming guilt. Lauren's vision began to blur as tears welled in her eyes.

"You want to talk about it?" Bo asked gently, her brown eyes darkening with concern.

Lauren sniffled a bit, blinking rapidly in an effort to stave off the tears that were threatening to fall. "Not yet," she admitted, not wanting to shut Bo out completely, but not at all ready to have this conversation.

"Okay. But I'm here when you need me," she confirmed. Lauren responded with a nod, thankful that Bo didn't press the issue.

"I suppose you have to get going. You haven't been home in over 24 hours," Lauren said, not really wanting Bo to go, but knowing that it would probably be for the best.

Bo dropped her head down, letting out a breath before responding. "Yeah, I probably should." With a sigh, she extricated herself from Lauren's grasp and went to slip her shoes on.

"See you Monday," Lauren said, holding the front door of her apartment open.

As Bo brushed past, she gave Lauren a quick kiss on the cheek. "Yes you will," she confirmed with a knowing smile as she walked out the door.


	15. Chapter 14

Happy Birthday Shout-Out to** Caramel-coated-flaws!** Wishing you an amazing day :) Sorry the chapter is a short one, but I didn't want to leave you hanging on your big day. More to come, as always :)

XOXOX

* * *

CHAPTER 14

Sunday passed uneventfully. Lauren had taken care of some grocery shopping and had fulfilled some of her domestic duties by cleaning her house and doing her laundry. She had avoided two phone calls from Emma and a handful of texts from both her and Angie, all of which were some variation on a theme of "I'm so sorry, blah blah blah". But Lauren was in no mood to hear it. Up until a month ago, she had been blissfully unaware of the true dynamic of their friendship. But no longer. Everything was exposed and Lauren would be damned if she was going to allow the years of transgressions to be rectified with a simple apology. She would need some time.

6am Monday morning, Lauren was out of bed, dressed, and practically ready to sprint out the door. Obviously no sane person would arrive at work at 6am on a Monday, so instead she had curled up on the couch with a mug of hot coffee to watch the morning news in leisure - that is, until 7am hit and she could legitimately sprint out the door and arrive at work without looking like a complete nerd. It wasn't so much that she_ loved_ being at work all the time, but it was more that she was ready to finally be able to get to the meat of her research since the issue of funding had been resolved. There was nothing holding her back... not work-wise, at least. But personally? _Geesh_, that was a whole separate beast. Take all of the enthusiasm and joy that she felt about moving forward with her research and suck it into a black hole of dread and confusion, and that's how she felt about her situation with Bo and Thomas, and now Emma and Angie on top of it. Sure, it may sound a tad over-dramatic but then again, what's a good relationship without a bit of drama?

Lauren continued to mull things over as she poured the rest of her coffee into a travel mug and headed out the door. As she suspected, 7am was still too early for the rest of the lab, and Lauren found herself sitting alone at her workbench for a while until the gang started to trickle in. Once everyone had arrived for the day, the lab practically hummed with activity - like they had all been given a renewed sense of purpose - and it certainly didn't take much for Lauren to get swept up in it.

Before she knew it, noon had come and gone and she was absolutely starving! Still in an emotional haze as to what to do about her growing feelings for Bo, she opted out of swinging by Bo's office to ask her to lunch. She clearly exercised poor judgment on that front on Saturday evening when Bo had returned to her apartment to get her clothes back, so perhaps a little bit of space would bring some clarity and, more importantly, some much-needed self-restraint.

The cafeteria was a zoo when Lauren arrived. She wasn't use to eating quite this late in the day and hadn't realized how good business was. After a long wait at the cashier's line, Lauren finally had her food in-hand and was now faced with the task of finding someplace to eat. She always had the option of taking her food back up to the lab to eat, but it was never her first choice. She was about to give up her search when she spotted an open booth. Though she hated to take up an entire booth all by herself, she was desperate and hoped no one would mind. Lauren made herself comfortable and started in on her sandwich. She was only a couple of bites in when her chewing was halted by the sound of a familiar pair of voices coming from the booth in front of her. She slumped down as far as she could in her seat in an effort to avoid being found out. Even though the booths were separated by tall seat-backs, one could never be too careful. Forcing herself to swallow her bite of sandwich, she waited and listened - - -

"What's with you and Blondie, Doc? Not gonna lie," Kenzie laughed, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest, "I didn't realize you swung that way. But hey, even **_I_** gotta admit that girl is _fiiine_."

"It's not like that, Kenz," Bo tried to deny, half-heartedly. "She's just -"

"Let me cut you off right there, PinocchiBo. You can deny it all you want, that's your choice. But the two of you last weekend? That ain't 'nothin'. I'd say that's most _definitely_ a 'somethin'."

At Kenzi's words, Bo visibly slumped in her chair. Running her hands roughly over her face, she tried to respond, " Lauren and I, we're... _God_, I don't even know what we are," she admitted, letting out a long breath. "Never in my life did I imagine myself capable of cheating. I _can_ not and _am_ not that person. But Kenz, I spend one second with her and I'm practically like "_Tom? Tom_ **_who_**?"

"Bo Blue, I hate to say it, but I think you already busted the shit out of that rule of yours," Kenzi broke the news, reaching across the table to squeeze Bo's hand gently. "It's okay for you to be interested in women, I mean - "

"_Woman_," Bo corrected. "Just... one woman," she said quietly.

"Well that woman of yours is gorg-_ass_. But like you said, you're driving stick these days and we all know how complicated it can get switching back and forth between a stick and an automatic. Ya know?" Kenzi added, with a hint of warning in her voice.

"Kenz, it gets worse," Bo added, practically whispering.

"Don't hold back now, lady!" Kenzi prodded, clearly excited for Bo to dish out her big news.

Bo held her head in her hands for a moment before she continued, "I found something in Tom's coat pocket last night."

"Oh no, is he a closeted smoker?" Kenzi asked in mock horror. "You know how I feel about doctors being hypocrites: _Smoking is bad for you, it causes cancer_," she mimicked in a high-pitched voice, "and then you see them all lined up outside, puffing away like it's no big thing. _Bastards,_" she swore under her breath.

"No, no, no. Nothing like that," Bo waved her hand dismissively. "I found... a ring."

Kenzi's eyes got wide. "Holy. Shitballs."

"God, Kenz, this is such a mess! I mean, I love Tom and all, but _marriage_? I had no idea he was this serious." Bo shifted nervously in her seat.

"What are you saying, BoBo? Are _you_ not that serious about _him_?" Kenzi asked as gently as possible, though still obviously excited to be getting the inside scoop.

"Tom is..." she paused, searching for the right words. "We're...him and I are good together," she stated matter-of-factly. "He's sweet and funny, obviously intelligent, and very handsome. He treats me well and I've been happy being with him," Bo shrugged, not really sure what else to say.

"But?" Kenzi pushed, obviously not convinced that their relationship is all sunshine and rainbows.

"But," Bo conceded, "I think our relationship is more comfortable than anything. And I don't know that the kind of feelings I have for him are enough to build a marriage on. I just... I don't know."

"And what about your feelings for Blondie? Are _those_ the kind of feelings you build a marriage on?"

Bo waited an agonizing amount of time before finally answering, "_Maybe_? I don't know," she whispered.

Kenzi studied Bo's expression for a moment, looking like she was trying to make up her mind about something. Leaning forward to rest her crossed arms on the table, she continued to study Bo intently. "Be careful there."

Bo tilted her head to one side, her brow furrowing in confusion at Kenzi's words.

"I see the way she looks at you, Bo, that's all. Just... be careful there," she said again. Her final sentiment effectively ended the conversation and the two women began gathering up the remnants of their lunch. As Kenzi rose from her spot at the table, she immediately spotted Lauren in the booth behind Bo. Their eyes locked and Lauren felt like her heart was going to pound straight out of her chest. She felt so _exposed_. Kenzi's face flushed in embarrassment. She acknowledged Lauren with a quick nod of her head before turning to leave, practically running out of the cafeteria. Bo quickly gathered her own things and followed her out, never realizing that Lauren had been sitting behind them the whole time and had heard their entire exchange.


	16. Chapter 15

Ugh, so sorry for the delay. I'm not sure where the time goes, but thank you to you lovely reviewers who not only offered encouraging feedback regarding the direction and pace of the story, but who also reminded me that it had been well-over a week since my last chapter update. I'm finding it particularly difficult to keep things slow but steady, since all I really want to do is jump to the important plot points or conversations and gloss over the more mundane sections. But I doubt that's what makes good story-telling. Boo :( Anyway! Apologies yet again for being such a slow-poke. But I appreciate you guys hanging in there and, as always, THANK YOU for all of the feedback and support. You make this a wonderful community to be a part of and really do Lost Girls and Doccubus proud by being so positive and welcoming.

Enough of the sappy stuff, on to the story!

* * *

CHAPTER 15

Burying your head in the sand seems like such a cowardly approach to life, but for Lauren, it was a completely viable option. She was absolutely terrified by the conversation she had overheard at lunch on Monday between Bo and Kenzi, but - if she was being truly honest - it also left her feeling oddly hopeful. Kenzi had pushed Bo to finally express her doubts about her relationship with Thomas and come clean about her not-so-platonic feelings toward Lauren. She felt guilty for having overheard a very private conversation between the girls, but there was nothing to be done about that now. The truth had come out, and the only question now was how to proceed? The scientist in Lauren was prone to over-analyzing, but she had done all of that already. In fact, she had spent the last month contemplating everyone's feelings and motivations and trying to consider the millions of "what if" scenarios of how this might all play out. But to what end? When it came down to the human condition, no amount of hypothesizing could ever truly prepare her for reality.

So Lauren stuck with her initial plan and buried her head in the proverbial sand. The lab was already a whirlwind of activity, so it wasn't hard finding excuses to skip lunch in the cafeteria, opting for a quick sandwich in the break room instead, or arriving early and staying late at the office to avoid accidently running into Bo. It was impossible, though, for Lauren to avoid her completely. After all, they did work in the same building. It was Thursday evening when Bo finally turned up at Lauren's lab, her sudden appearance at Lauren's workstation catching her off-guard.

"Hey stranger," Bo greeted, leaning back against the counter of Lauren's workstation.

Lauren slumped down in her chair, running a hand along her creased brow. "Bo, I'm so sorry I haven't been around this week, things have just been so bu-" Bo cut her off with a raised hand.

"Hey, hey - you don't need to apologize, I didn't mean anything by it," Bo reassured her with such sincerity it could make a grown woman cry. Lauren could tell she had wanted to reach out to her in that moment - her hand sort of hanging in the space between them - but the fact that she didn't? Well, it just made Lauren sad. She didn't want Bo to always second guess her every action or hold anything back. She was a big girl; she could handle whatever level of intimacy Bo brought to their friendship.

"Right, yeah, I know," Lauren said, wishing she could start over from the beginning. Maybe... just... stick to a simple '_Hi_' next time. "Things are a bit chaotic at the moment, as you can see." Lauren watched Bo sweep her eyes around the room, taking in the unusually high level of activity in the lab considering the hour of day.

"Well I don't want to keep you from your work, I'm sure you want to finish up so you can get home. I... just..." she looked uncertainly down at her hand which was busy tracing nonsense patterns along the top of Lauren's desk. "I just wanted to let you know that you've been missed this week," she finished, her eyes still downcast.

"I've missed you, too," Lauren said softly, bringing a smile to Bo's face. "But you'll be happy to know that the three stooges have agreed to make good on their loser-buys-dinner deal from last weekend. So" she exclaimed, "you tell Kenzi that the three of us are going to rendezvous at my favorite steak house tomorrow after work and those losers are going to have us dining is style. And be sure mention they serve a killer hamburger," Lauren winked knowingly.

"That sounds great!" Bo agreed, pushing herself off Lauren's desk. "Well," she stalled, seemingly unsure about what exactly to do now. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow night, then. If you decide you need a ride or something, you know where to find me." There it was again - the hesitation. Lauren could have done it - made the first move, hugged her or squeezed her hand - something to let her know that she won't break just from one touch. But instead, she stood there with her hands shoved deep in the pockets of her lab coat, looking like an impregnable fortress until Bo settled on a slight nod of the head before making her hasty retreat.

Lauren let out a sigh and sat back down on her stool. Looking down at the mountains of work she still had to complete before she could go home, she wished, for possibly the first time in her life, that she didn't care so much. In that moment, if she could have it her way, she would have said a big ol' _screw you_ to the job at hand - to her research and her work ethic - and instead, ask Bo for the ride she most assuredly would have offered had Lauren not made it oh-so apparent that she was too busy. And maybe after the ride home, she could have invited Bo up to her apartment for dinner... and maybe a little wine... just the two of them. But that wasn't Lauren, no matter how much she wished it could be. And with that truth securely in place, she pulled up her big-girl britches and got back to work.

Eventually 7pm rolled around and Lauren was exhausted. She kept rubbing her eyes, thinking it would clear up the blurriness, but she was fairly certain that the two hours she had just spent looking through her microscope had given her permanent double vision. Looking around the lab, she realized she was the only one left. _When had everyone else gone home_? If that wasn't a sign, then Lauren wasn't sure what was. Calling it quits for the night, she packed up her equipment, grabbed her belongings from the break room and turned off the lights on her way out. _See ya in 12_, she thought with amusement as she began her walk home.

* * *

Friday was a whole lot more of the same. In an effort to ensure she was out of the lab by 5pm so as not to be late for the dinner she had arranged for the six friends, she had shown up at work promptly at 7am and immediately picked up where she had left off the night before. Though she had planned to eat in the lab's break room again, mostly to save time, she made it a point to text Bo to let her know her plan instead of avoiding her like she had done earlier in the week. And for Lauren's efforts, she was rewarded with a prompt reply:

Bo: Hey, Lo. Thanks for the 411. Sorry you won't be joining us, but just remember, all work and no play makes Lauren a dull girl ;)

Lauren: I doubt you'll think me dull after tonight

Bo: Hmmm... that remains to be seen

Lauren: I consider that a challenge. Hold on to your knickers, young lady

Bo: Anyone who uses the word "knickers" is not helping their cause in any way

Lauren: Noted. Looking forward to tonight. Shouldn't need a ride, so I'll meet you guys there!

Bo: Sounds good. See ya then

Sliding her phone back in to her lab coat, Lauren returned to her work with gusto. Though there was no way to predict how tonight was going to go, especially after her little fall-out with Emma and Angie and the uncertain nature of her relationship with Bo, she was still excited to spend an evening with her friends.

* * *

Lauren arrived at the restaurant earlier than she had planned, having been even more productive than usual at work today. She had only been to this particular restaurant a couple of times, but had always enjoyed the decor. The building, built over a century ago, had originally been a bank. The exterior had been changed decades ago, making the building appear rather nondescript from the outside. But the inside was incredible. Some of its most impressive features had been beautifully maintained - the domed stain glass ceiling and windows, the second-floor balcony that curved around in a semi-circle, connected to the first floor by symmetrical wooden staircases. Even some of the old teller windows with their elaborate woodwork were still there and had been used to create what was now the restaurant's main bar, which was where Lauren chose to wait, beer in-hand, for her friends to arrive. She had been lucky to find an open stool, though she found herself quickly reconsidering her definition of "lucky" when a rather unkempt-looking man in his late 20s appeared next to her at the bar.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

"Umm... I, uh, I don't really need one quite yet," she replied back, lifting up her mostly-full beer bottle. Lauren was never one to be intentionally rude or impolite, but she knew what the guy wanted and she really, _really_ wanted him to _go away_.

"So," the guy started talking again, clearly undeterred by his earlier blunder," I'm Chuck."

_Chuck. Great_. What a perfect 20-something-year-old ex-frat boy name. But again, her good nature forced her to respond. "Lauren," she replied with an insincere smile barely making it on to her face.

"Did you just get off work?"

"Yup." Short and simple. Don't give too much detail.

"Cool."

"_Cool_," Lauren mouthed back. _What an idiot_.

"I work in construction. It's the off-season, ya know, so I'm kinda layin' low. Been helping my buddies out here and there with some repair work - handyman kind of stuff," he nodded, taking a few good gulps of his beer.

"Hmmm. Sounds... interesting."

He turned his attention back on Lauren, leaning in to her space just enough to make her wish the bar wasn't so busy tonight because it didn't give her much room to position herself away from the smell of beer and mild body odor wafting her way. "What do you do?" he asked, completely oblivious to her lack of interest in him or this conversation.

"I'm a florist," she said in all seriousness. "It's our off-season as well, obviously," she gestured vaguely.  
"But I'm also keeping busy working as a doctor in a research lab. Gotta have a hobby, right?"

Chuck blinked a few times in confusion.

Just when the situation was about to take an interesting turn, she heard a familiar voice call her name. As she turned away from the train wreck that was this entire encounter with good ol' Chuck, she saw a blur of movement and suddenly Bo's hand was at her neck pulling her into a kiss. _Holy. Jesus._ Her entire brain exploded. _Literally._ Grey matter oozing out the ears. Somewhere deep in her subconscious she knew this wasn't right, that this shouldn't be happening. But that message couldn't push past the millions of sensations coursing through her body that told her to keep going and enjoy it while she could. Lauren didn't mean to, but before she knew it, her hands had slid their way around Bo's waist, pulling Bo's body between her legs. She felt completely engulfed in Bo - the smell of her, the feel of her, the sound of her, and for the first time, the taste of her. It was intoxicating. Lauren couldn't have said if the kiss lasted a second or an hour, but when she felt the pressure of Bo's tongue gliding along her lips, searching for more, she knew it needed to end. Gently pulling her face away, they gazed at each other for a moment, Bo's thumb rubbing softly along Lauren's neck. She was so beautiful that Lauren thought it impossible she would ever tire of looking at her.

"Hey, babe," Bo finally greeted her.

"Hi," Lauren breathed out, a smile coming to her face.

Bo turned her body toward the annoying fellow who, mere moments before, had his greasy face a bit too close to Lauren's for comfort.

"I'm afraid I interrupted something. I'm Bo, Lauren's girlfriend" she introduced herself, reaching her hand out in forced politeness to shake his. Lauren almost died on the spot, her cheeks flushing a vibrant shade of red_. Is this what a hot-flash feels like?_, she pondered fleetingly.

"And you would be?" Bo prompted.

"Uh... Chuck... er... Ch-Charles, ma'am. Charles," he finally squeaked out, wincing as Bo's grasp on his hand tightened.

"And how do you know Lauren?" she asked, never letting go of Chuck's hand.

Lauren, for her part, could hardly contain herself. On one hand, she felt bad for the guy. Bo could be a bit intimidating when she wanted to be, even though the guy was a half-a-foot taller and a solid 100 pounds heavier. But she was also secretly tickled that Bo was willing to ruffle this guy's feathers on her behalf.

"I... uh... I don't know her," he winced again. "Uh! Lauren!" he amended, trying to pull his hand back. "I don't know _Lauren_. I was just getting another drink but I, uh, have to go now," he finished, suddenly in a hurry.

Bo finally released his hand, satisfied that he had gotten the point and would be out of their hair ASAP. Chuck threw some money on the bar, told the girls to treat themselves to a drink on him, and disappeared into the crowd.

"Well, well, well, my knight in shining armor," Lauren chuckled, swiveling around on her bar stool to gaze up at Bo.

"Granted, you are no damsel in distress, but," Bo said, stepping back into her earlier position between Lauren's legs and running her hands up and down Lauren's arms, "there is no way I would let Chucky McSleezy-Pants lay his grubby paws on my girlfr-." A troubled look came over Bo's face for the briefest of seconds before being replaced by a gentle smile. "My _friend_," she finished.

Lauren raised an eyebrow at Bo's slip-up, but decided it was best not to put too much stock in it. "Mmmm," Lauren gave a sound of approval. "Well you're correct, I didn't need saving. But for the record," she added, giving Bo a squeeze around the waist, "your gesture was not wasted on me."

Bo's smile broadened and Lauren, not an ounce of self-control left, brought a hand to Bo's face to run her thumb lightly over the dimple she had grown so fond of. The two women watched each other intently. Bo looked as though she was about to say something when the sound of someone clearing their throat caused Bo to turn her head away - the moment broken.


	17. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

"Sorry, ladies, I uh... I just... I think I dropped something earlier. Just... gonna..." Chuck quickly bent down by the stool he had occupied just moments ago, coming back up with a set of car keys. "There we are. Well," he glanced uncomfortably between the two women, "I'll be on my way." And with that, he made his second exit of the night.

The two women let out matching sighs of relief, looking at each other for a long moment while letting it sink in how close they had come to being caught by one of their friends. Lauren tried to remain casual, but the seriousness of what had just occurred between them, no matter the premise, was not lost on her. Bo may have been putting on a show for the sake of thwarting a stranger's unwanted advances, but it had gone a bit far and they both knew it.

Lauren was first to break the tension, "Bo, I don't know what that," she moved her hand between the two of them, "was. I mean I know what _that_ was but I don't really understand what it _means_. I just..." she looked around the room for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. "What are we doing, Bo?" she asked in a hushed tone, surprised that she was even able to get the words out knowing that however Bo answered, it would change _everything_.

Bo gave a sigh, sliding her hands down Lauren's arms to take both hands in her own. She looked so small, so... vulnerable. "I don't know, Lauren," she finally answered, her gaze trained on their joined hands. "But whatever it is, I'm not sure I can stop."

Lauren inhaled sharply at Bo's confession, the naked truth of her words surprising her more than she thought they would. She wanted so badly to have this conversation - figure out what was going on between them and move forward in whatever way they needed to - but this was neither the time nor the place. Lauren had made a mistake pushing Bo to say those words. She wanted to hear them - _needed_ to hear them - but what could possibly be said in a crowded, noisy restaurant where their friends could appear at any moment and catch them saying things that Lauren wasn't even sure she was ready to say or hear herself? No. This wasn't right.

Lauren gave Bo's hands a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "I'm sorry, it was unfair of me to ask," she apologized.

Bo looked at Lauren, her brow furrowing slightly, "No, you had every right to ask. We need to talk about this," she said, glancing quickly behind her, obviously as concerned about who might be listening as Lauren was. "But not now."

"Not now," Lauren agreed, with a nod of the head. Emboldened by the night's unexpected turn of events, Lauren removed her hands from Bo's grasp and, placing them on either side of Bo's face, drew her in for one last lingering kiss. As she pulled away, Lauren could see Bo's eyes flutter open, a warm smile gracing her features. "Not now," Lauren repeated, "but soon."

"Hey-ya, chiccas!" came a familiar voice. Bo slowly stepped away from Lauren, putting a more respectable distance between their bodies just as Kenzi pushed her way through the final clump of patrons separating her from her friends.

"Uh man, where are those losers? A certain someone who shall remain nameless - you know who you are," she pointed a finger at Lauren in mock accusation, "promised me there would be a juicy, juicy burger awaiting my arrival. Clearly your friends aren't in any hurry to make good on our deal," she huffed, flopping down on the stool next to Lauren. "Just for that, double order of fries!" she exclaimed, slapping her hand on the bar.

Lauren chuckled at Kenzi being... well... Kenzi, and swiveled her stool back toward the bar to find the beer she had abandoned when Bo arrived. Lauren sat quietly sipping her beer while listening to Bo and Kenzi chat about the new daytime security guard stationed at the front entrance of their office. Lauren's thoughts drifted a bit as she watched Bo, remembering how it felt holding her so close, her soft lips pressed against her own. But she was dragged out of her reminiscing when she heard Bo inquire about why Kenzi had asked to leave early from work today. Kenzi drummed her fingers on the bar top, looking like she was weighing her options. "If you must know," she finally answered, "I was buying you your birthday present."

_Birthday?_ **Bo's**_ birthday_?

"Wait wait wait," Lauren interrupted, tugging on Bo's elbow, "your birthday is coming up? When? Why didn't you say anything?"

Kenzi raised an eyebrow at Lauren's sudden interest in their conversation, while Bo glanced back and forth between the two women trying to decide how best to answer. "My birthday is on Sunday, but Kenzi - against my expressed wishes," Bo added emphatically, "is throwing me a party tomorrow night."

A huge grin came to Kenzi's face and she clapped her hands enthusiastically. "It's gonna be _killer_!" she exclaimed. "I was able to arrange for a few of her close friends from back home to come, and her sister is going to be there," she rambled on, throwing out names from the guest list. "Lauren!" she said, suddenly. "You should come!


	18. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

The second Lauren awoke Saturday morning, all she could think about was Bo's party. She knew the only familiar faces there would be Kenzi and Bo and she was stuck between being ridiculously happy that for one night she wouldn't have to feel like she was a second away from getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and feeling anxious. Being thrown into a group of strangers wasn't Lauren's favorite thing - her brand of geek was not for everyone. But Lauren would take any excuse she could to spend more time with Bo, even if it meant subjecting herself to a night of loitering in the background and making mundane conversation with people who, by the end of the night, would likely forget they had ever met. Though Lauren did recall that Bo's sister would be there and wondered what she was like. Would she be as strikingly beautiful as Bo? Would she be as accomplished in her life, as interesting to talk to, or as easy-going and funny? - - _Would she approve of me?_ _- Oh god, where did that come from_, Lauren thought, rubbing the crease in her forehead. _You are not Bo's suitor - her sister isn't even going to know you exist, so who cares? _Lauren tried to remind herself.

Lauren spent the better part of the morning working her way through a large pot of hot coffee and a stack of journals that had been sitting on her coffee table for the longest time. As afternoon approached, she became increasingly restless. She was uncharacteristically pre-occupied with thoughts of what she should wear to tonight's party to the point where she was forced to abandon her reading and, instead, spend an embarrassingly long time rummaging around in her closet for the 'perfect outfit' - if that even existed. Normally this type of obsessing over appearance coming from someone else would have earned them a well-deserved eye-roll and some good-natured teasing from Lauren. _Look at yourself_, she thought as she threw yet another dress onto the reject pile in the center of her bed, _you're being ridiculou_s. She made her way back over to her closet and grabbed a dress hanging to the far left, so far back she had all but forgotten it was there. As she pulled it out, she reminded herself that Bo's party was not a date; she wasn't going there to woo her, or even impress her really. But that didn't mean she couldn't try, she thought with a smirk. It was time to get ready.

* * *

Lauren stood outside Bo's apartment building staring at the list of tenants and their corresponding numbers. _Dennis, #413_. She made quick work of punching in the numbers on the keypad and waited as patiently as possible for someone to answer and let her into the building. She wasn't at all surprised when she heard Kenzi 's voice through the speaker, "What's shakin', bacon?"

"Kenz, it's me... Lauren."

"Hi Lo," Kenzi answered, laughing at her own joke.

"Funny Kenz. You think you could let me in now? It's a bit chilly out here and I'm beginning to regret my choice of clothing."

"Sure thing Doc, just head to the back of the hallway and take the elevators up to the fourth floor. We're to the right."

As the intercom clicked off, she took her cue from the loud buzzing sound that quickly followed and let herself in through the heavy metal door into the warm foyer of the apartment complex. Within minutes she was outside the door to Bo's apartment. Music, laughter, and the sound of women's voices talking loudly could be heard from within. Lauren had just raised her fist up to knock on the door when it swung open abruptly, causing Lauren to back up a step.

"Doc!"

"Found it," Lauren said by way of greeting.

Kenzi moved aside as Lauren made her way into Bo's apartment. When she had accepted the invitation from Kenzi to come to the party tonight, her excitement was overshadowed by the fear of having to spend an entire evening in close quarters with Thomas. But without even having to ask and potentially give herself away, Kenzi had reassured her that it was going to be a girls' night only. No boys allowed. Unfortunately, when confronted with a room full of strangers, she often gravitated toward the men in the room. Somehow she found their mode of socializing easier to navigate than the complex interactions between women. Lauren looked around the room trying to size up the crowd. At least these were all friends of Bo's. How bad could it be?

After removing her coat and giving it to Kenzi, Lauren scanned the crowd trying to size up the situation. There were about 10 women there, none of whom she recognized aside from Kenzi. They were all well-dressed and very attractive. _Geez, no pressure_, Lauren grumbled feeling even more self-conscious. Looking back beyond the living room into the kitchen, Lauren immediately spotted Bo pulling glasses out of an overhead cabinet. Bo was absolutely stunning tonight - not that there was ever a moment where she wasn't the most beautiful thing Lauren had ever laid eyes on - but tonight? Tonight went above and beyond. Making her way across the living room and stealthily avoiding detection from the other women littered throughout Bo's abode, Lauren slid quietly behind her, lightly slipping both arms around her waist and leaning in just far enough for the front of her body to brush along the back of Bo's. She could feel Bo tense for a moment but it didn't last long, her body pressing back into Lauren even more as she relaxed into Lauren's embrace.

"Happy birthday, old lady," Lauren breathed out in a low voice, her mouth close to Bo's ear. As her warm breath tickled the hair of Bo's neck, she could feel Bo shiver slightly.

"Mmmm, is that the pot calling the kettle black?" she answered with a chuckle, turning around in Lauren's arms until they were face to face. Bo's smile make Lauren weak in the knees and she could feel her heart pounding madly in her chest as Bo leaned forward to place a brief but gentle kiss on her lips. "You know," she continued as if this was the most normal thing in the world - for them to stand in her kitchen amongst a room full of her good friends, in a slightly more-than-friendly embrace - "considering we're the same age, I'd be more careful about who you're callin' old." Bo gave Lauren a playful swat on the arm.

"Well, it's not so bad. I wouldn't mind being old with you," Lauren responded, not even realizing how that could be interpreted until the words were out of her mouth.

Bo's eyebrow shot up, her eyes taking on a slightly mischievous glint. "Funny you should say that, as I'd quite agree. We would be a lovely old couple." As Bo's gaze dragged over her body, Lauren could finally appreciate the meaning of having someone undress you with their eyes. Bo pulled back slightly from their embrace, giving herself a bit more space to fully take in Lauren's appearance for the first time this evening. "You look..." Bo paused, letting out a long breath of air and finally pulling her eyes away from Lauren's body to meet her gaze once again, "absolutely -"

"Break it up, ladies, break it up," an unfamiliar voice cut in.

Lauren's cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment as she pulled further away from Bo.

"Ava, hey," Bo greeted, sounding slightly less than enthusiastic, her eyes still trained on Lauren.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you got lost bringing my drink back. "

"Sorry. No. I ran into my... uh..." Bo looked quickly between the two women, "my friend, Lauren. And I got sidetracked. So, " she trailed off, leaving the meaning a bit too open for interpretation for Lauren's liking.

"I can see that," Ava commented with a sly grin, clearly not at all confused about what she had interrupted. "Well, nice to meet you."

Lauren, ever one for formalities, reached her hand out, "Hi, nice to meet you too. Ava, was it?"

"That's right. I guess Bo hasn't talked about me much," she said, bumping up next to Bo and throwing her arm across her shoulders. "I should be offended, little sis', but whatever."

Bo maintained an oddly stiff posture as Ava leaned casually against her.

"Sister?!" Lauren squeaked out. "Oh, hi!" she greeted again, this time with much more enthusiasm.

"Interesting. The 'hi' of polite indifference followed closely behind by the 'hi' of mildly panicked curiosity," Ava commented, clearly amused by Lauren's discomfort.

"Jesus, Ava. Be nice, you ass," Bo chastised bitingly, moving out from under Ava's arm.

"So how do you two know each other?- Asked with similarly polite indifference," she added, cheekily.

"Oh fuck off, you jerk. " Bo said through gritted teeth, giving Ava a final shove toward the living room.

"Nice meeting you, _Friend Lauren_, " she said, moving back toward the living room. "And Bo, don't forget my drink when you come this way."

Lauren leaned against the counter top, watching Ava saunter back to the group of women sitting on the living room sofa. Bo let out a loud sigh and joined Lauren, resting her elbows on the counter and staring out at her guests.

"So your sister," Lauren stated flatly. "I have to admit, she's not exactly what I had pictured."

"You're not the first to say that."

"Not only do the two of you look nothing alike, but then there's the obvious difference in personalities," Lauren commented more to herself than to Bo.

"Would it help to know that we're both adopted?"

Lauren turned to Bo with a raised eyebrow. "Ahhh, that does help, yes," she replied with a smile, returning to her people-watching. "Don't get me wrong, as I'm sure she's a delight once you get to know her, but -"

"Oh no," Bo interrupted, "she's actually _worse_ when you get to know her."

The two women looked at each other, laughing.

"Well, I was just curious why Kenzi asked her to come all this way for your party if the two of you aren't exactly the best of friends," Lauren asked, watching Bo patiently as she waited for her to respond.

"I think Kenzi was worried that I was homesick... so," Bo paused, looking back out over the crowd, "she probably got Ava's number off my phone or through one of her weird and slightly sketchy friends and asked her to come. She had no way of knowing that Ava and I are mortal enemies," Bo let out another laugh, causing a smile to break out on Lauren's face. She loved that sound. "Anyway," she continued, turning around and leaning her back against the counter, "it was very sweet of her. Terribly misguided... but sweet."

Lauren shook her head, feeling so silly for having worried so much about meeting Bo's sister.

"I should get Ava her drink and go socialize," she said a bit begrudgingly, pushing herself away from the counter.

Lauren shook her head in agreement, watching Bo fill a glass with wine for Ava.

"And Lauren," she added, pausing briefly on her way out of the kitchen, "I'm so happy you're here."

* * *

**NOTE**_: Gang, I am seriously so sorry. I know I had promised you guys that I wouldn't wait a million years to post these final chapters, but here I am, stringing you along. I haven't given up on the story, I've just found my free time SIGNIFICANTLY diminished over these past few months. I can't even tell you just how much I appreciate your willingness to stick with this story, and for all of the lovely comments and PMs. This story *will* have an ending. Hang in there, people, I promise I'll deliver. Happy Summer, Everyone!_


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